Altered Image Viral as Crowd Watching Babar Azam's Batting in J&K's Lal Chowk

The original photo shows the crowd watching the live broadcast of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 landing on 23 August.

The image has been altered to show the match between Pakistan and Nepal.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

Shortly after the first match in Asia Cup 2023 between Pakistan and Nepal, an image of a crowd gathered in front of a screen at Jammu and Kashmir's Lal Chowk has gone viral.

What is the claim?: Those sharing the image have claimed that it showed people watching the 151-run innings of Pakistani cricketer and captain, Babar Azam.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What is the truth?: While the image is from J&K, it has been digitally edited to show that the crowd was watching Azam play live on screen.

• The original image shows the crowd watching the landing of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3.

• The other image is also from the same occasion at Lal Chowk.

• Both these images existed before the commencement of the Asia Cup tournament.

How did we find out?: We did a Google reverse image search and found a post dated 23 August by Kashmir-based photojournalist, Basit Zargar on X that included similar images as the viral one.

• The post was accompanied by the caption that the crowd had gathered to watch the landing of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3.

IMAGE 1:

We matched the images and found that both the images had the same background.

Here is a comparison between the viral image and Basit Zargar's post. 

(Source: X/Screenshot)

IMAGE 2: The same post included another picture that had similarities with the viral image.

Here is a comparison between the viral image and Basit Zargar's post. 

(Source: X/Screenshot)

• We also found a post by Srinagar police on X from 24 August that included the same image as one of the viral images highlighting the event at Lal Chowk.

• Further, several news reports noted the live broadcast of the Chandrayaan-3 landing at Lal Chowk.

Here is an example of the reportage of the gathering at Lal Chowk on 24 August. 

(Source: Greater Kashmir/Screenshot) 

• Additionally, we found no news reports to support the claim that the match between Pakistan and Nepal was screened at Lal Chowk.

• The Quint has reached out to Basit Zargar for his inputs and the story will be updated when we get a response.

Conclusion: Clearly, the image has been edited to show the gathering at Lal Chowk in J&K watching Pakistan's match. The original image shows the crowd watching the live broadcast of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 landing.

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