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Did the BBC Use The Wrong Map of India in a Recent Report? No!

The screenshot shows a 2015 report by the BBC with the wrong map of India, which has since been taken down.

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A screenshot of a BBC article – which shows India's map without Jammu and Kashmir – is being shared on social media. Those sharing the screenshot are calling for a "ban" on the broadcaster.

Who are the ones sharing it?: Sudarshan News' Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi, and Major Surendra Poonia are some of the people who shared the claim.

(Note: Swipe right to view all claims.)

  • An archive of this tweet can be seen here.

    (Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here, here and here.)

Why is it relevant?: The claim come in the backdrop of BBC's three-part documentary titled 'India: The Modi Question'.

  • BBC's documentary reportedly examines Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure as the chief minister of Gujarat, focusing on the 2002 Gujarat riots.

  • The controversial documentary has been banned in India. It drew heavy criticism from the government, which dubbed it a "propaganda piece."

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But..?: While BBC did use the wrong map of India, the graphic seen in the claims is taken from a 2015 video story which has been taken down and is not available for viewing.

How do we know this?: While examining claims on social media, we came across a tweet by tech entrepreneur Anil K Antony, who shared a few similar screenshots.

  • He mentioned that it showed "some past shenanigans of BBC" which used "truncated maps without Kashmir."

  • This tweet carried the screenshot from the claim, which showed a headline "Modi Miles: Why is India PM Narendra Modi always flying?"

  • Another screenshot showed an article with the headline, "US Election 2020: What do countries around the world from Joe Biden?"

An old BBC report: We looked for it on BBC's website but came across an article that was taken down "for editorial reasons."

  • This article was published on 12 November 2015.

  • It mentioned, "This video originally used an inaccurate map of India" and that they had "taken the decision to remove the video" in light of that error.

Using Wayback Machine – an archiving website – we found the archived version of this article, where we saw the video.

  • Ten seconds into the report, we saw a similar graphic which showed an incorrect map of India, similar to the one in the claim.

  • Further, another report from 17 January 2021 carried an incorrect map of India, which was later updated with a note that mentioned that "the error was corrected."

Conclusion: The screenshot showing an incorrect map of India in a BBC report is of an old report from 2015, which has since been taken down.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

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