Photos From a 2016 Blog Shared as Indian Soldier Injured in Galwan

This is actually an atleast four year old photo which is unrelated to the Indian Army.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A photo of a man with a scarred and an injured back, and a bandaged arm is being falsely shared to claim that this is a soldier of the Indian Army who was injured in the recent violent face-off between the troops of India and China at the Galwan Valley on 15 June.

However, this is at least a four-year-old photo which is unrelated to the Indian Army.

CLAIM

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)

CLAIM

The photo has been shared by many people on social media with the claim that it is of one of the soldiers who survived the face-off at Galwan Valley, but with different backstories.

One post claimed that this was a soldier who had also recounted exactly how the clash had taken place between Indian and Chinese troops.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.(Photo: Screenshot/Facebook)

Another Facebook post also had a similar story to tell.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.(Photo: Screenshot/Facebook)

Yet another post on Twitter combined the photo of the alleged soldier with a photo of a rod fitted with nails that has been doing the rounds on the internet as that used by Chinese soldiers in the clash and insinuated that the man’s injuries were a result of this makeshift weapon.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.(Photo: Screenshot/Twitter)

WHAT WE FOUND

On performing a reverse image search using the search engine Yandex, we came across the same photo on various blogs in languages like Thai and Malay, one of which said that this was the result of one of the strength training exercises done by Thai soldiers in a special combat unit.

One of the blogs was dated 22 May 2016.

(Photo: Screenshot)

One of the other blogs which carried the photo was dated to August 2016.

(Photo: Screenshot)

The fact that the photos existed in 2016 makes it evident that it is not related to the recent face-off. Clearly, this photo has nothing to do with a soldier of the Indian Army who survived the Galwan Valley clash.

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