A photo of Lal Chowk, Srinagar is viral on social media with a Indian flag on the tower claimed as this happened first time in Indian history. Few images consist of two photos ‘then and now’ claiming earlier Lal Chowk didn’t have the flag, now it has.

Twitter

Kapil Mishra, a BJP leader tweeted the image with text “Tiranga at Lal Chowk“, and by now has more than 7.1K retweets.

Tiranga at Lal Chowk 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/jwlhFs5pZK

— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) August 14, 2020

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Jamyang Tsering Namgyal (Twitter Bio – State President @BJP4Ladakh | MP Lok Sabha – Ladakh | Ex. Chairman/CEC, LAHDC Leh | Ex. District President, @BJP4Leh ) tweeted –

What has changed since #5Aug2019?

Lal Chowk #Srinagar which had remained as symbol of #AntiIndia campaign by dynast politicians & #Jihadist forces, has now become Crown of Nationalism.#modihaitomumkinhai

Thanks my countrymen for electing @narendramodi @AmitShah #ModiSarkar pic.twitter.com/4g8doLRUdp

— Jamyang Tsering Namgyal (@JTNBJP) August 14, 2020

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Kirron Kher, actress, MP and  wife of Actor Anupam Kher tweeted

Tricolour at Lal Chowk Srinagar. Jai Hind 🇮🇳 #IndepenceDay pic.twitter.com/ldNy9cxDBJ

— Kirron Kher (@KirronKherBJP) August 15, 2020

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Paanamben Madaam, Member of Parliament (Loksabha) Jamnagar tweeted –

जम्मू कश्मीर के श्रीनगर स्थित लाल चौक में आंतकी कहर से लोग जाने से भी डरते थे,आज उसी जगह मान.प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी और मान.गृहमंत्री श्री @AmitShah जी के सशक्त नेतृत्व में हमारा तिरंगा शान से लहरा रहा है एवं हमारा पवित्र राष्ट्रगान वहां के हर कोने में गूंज रहा है। pic.twitter.com/hWDY4Pu1TC

— Poonamben Maadam (@PoonambenMaadam) August 15, 2020

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Asha Nakum (State IT Convener at BJP, UT of Dadra Nagarhaveli ) twitter

#Srinagar #Lalchowk #Tiranga

Thank you PM @narendramodi ji , HM @AmitShah ji pic.twitter.com/KJkSfuW8Ey

— Asha Nakum🇮🇳 (@AshaNakumBJP) August 14, 2020

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Gorakhnath Baba (Member of Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pradesh) tweeted

श्रध्देय श्यामा प्रसाद मुखर्जी जी से लेकर प्रधानमंत्री @narendramodi ji तक, तिरंगे को लाल चौक पर फहराने की यात्रा पूरी हुई।#IndiaIndependenceDay

Tiranga at Lal Chowk 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/43spDyF8hh

— Gorakhnath BaBa (@MlaGorakhnath) August 14, 2020

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The Lal Chowk ! Jai Hind 🇮🇳#15August #IndepenceDay pic.twitter.com/EK2z2ZeBj4

— Tanmay Shankar ( तन्मय शंकर ) (@Shanktan) August 15, 2020

At Lal Chowk. Jai Hind 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/txf3BZMo74

— RatnakaR (@TheRatanRoyal) August 15, 2020

After a decade big flag at Lal Chowk Srinagar.

Jai Hind pic.twitter.com/iSSb6cZloA

— Gaurav Pradhan 🇮🇳 (@OfficeOfDGP) August 14, 2020

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Uttar Pradesh Org –

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Following post has been shared for more than 5100 times

Following post has been shared for more than 4200 times

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News house

Newspaper Jagran posted an article based on same image

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Front Page of Dainik Jagran

Source for above photo

New Kashmir! BJP MP shares viral image of Tricolour at Srinagar's Lal Chowk#IDay2020 #IndependenceDay https://t.co/fPELJhVdqO

— Jagran English (@JagranEnglish) August 15, 2020

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News Archive

News Nation, a news channel, published and article based on fake image –

कभी कश्मीर के सबसे संवेदनशील इलाकों में शुमार रहने वाला लाल चौक आज हिंसा और पत्थरबाजी से आजाद है. लाल चौक पर फहराते हुए देश का तिरंगा सोशल मीडिया के सभी प्लेटफॉर्म्स पर छाया हुआ है.#IndependenceDayIndia #LalChowk #NewsNationTVhttps://t.co/0EXuxAVFRD

— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) August 15, 2020

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Truth

The photo is edited with Flag added on it digitally. The original photo is a decade old, Year 2010

The blog posted in 2010 published the same photo.

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We have contacted the author of the article, Mr. Mubasshir Mushtaq, a freelance journalist. He claimed he himself took the photo and emailed us the original photo from which we found the photo was taken on 22nd June 2010 by Canon PowerShot S5 IS.

You can see complete EXIF data of the original photo here

The same photo has been used by few News houses 3 years ago, i.e. 2017.
News – “Shiv Sena sends a team to hoist Indian flag on Lal Chowk”

ABP
News 18

You can see a comparison between the now viral photo and the original old photo below which proves that the viral photo is  edited, not real.

You can see the same vehicles on same position, a man walking with bag in his hand. The red rectangle on top in viral image shows a light blue strip is added digitally to fit the flag.

The photo below is part of forensics of images and is an ELA (Error Level Analysis) of the viral image. Link of analysis

As shown in the red rectangle on the viral image above, you can see that it’s a flat color in the ELA screenshot below. The top part of the image is flat single color with flag on it. SO the original image was extended vertically (a light blue strip matching sky color) to fit the flag on it.

Further, the viral image is old. The building behind the tower has been renovated, canopies on the roof changed, entire building has been painted white.

Source for right image: Getty Images (rectangle added by SMHoaxSlayer)

The Tribune posted an article 2 days ago and shows the building in white color too.

2 days old video of a search operation by Army for safety on independence day also shows the same building in White Color, Source

Below is an year old ABP news video clip from Lal Chowk which also shows the renovated building is in white color

Tweeted on 7th August, you can see the building is in white color matching recent photos

Lal Chowk, Srinagar—August 7, 2020 https://t.co/01spq7JnQS pic.twitter.com/W5iWagRk8e

— Aakash Hassan (@AakashHassan) August 7, 2020

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