J&K Flag Taken Off Srinagar Civil Secretariat? No, Photo is Edited

The claim says the flag of J&K has been taken down from the Secretariat post the abrogation of Article 370.

The claim is that the flag of J&K has been taken down from the secretariat building post the effective revocation of Article 370.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

A collage of two photos of the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, has been doing the rounds on social media. One of the photos shows both the National Flag and the state flag of Jammu & Kashmir atop the building, while the other shows only the Indian flag.

The claim shared along with the photos states that the flag of J&K has been taken down from the secretariat building amid the situation in J&K post the effective revocation of Article 370.

Many people shared the collage on Twitter, which started being circulated after the announcement by the Centre on Monday, hailing the change as a positive one.

A Facebook page called Modi Mania also shared the photo, which had over 2,000 shares at the time this story was published.

TRUE OR FALSE?

However, the claim is false and the photo has been edited to make it seem that both the flags have been removed and only the flag of India has been placed atop the building. This is not true and both the flags of J&K and that of India are still present on top of the building.

WHAT WE FOUND

On looking at the photos carefully, it was evident that the original photo of the secretariat building had been used to make the photoshopped image. The same cars can be seen parked in front of the Secretariat in the same spots and the same people can be seen standing in the exact positions. Even the angle of the photos is the same.

The same cars can be seen parked in front of the building in the same place.(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The same people can be seen in the same positions in the photo.(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Moreover, news agency ANI released a video on 7 August, which showed that both flags were still flying atop the Civil Secretariat, hence proving the viral collage wrong.

They also released photos of the building.

(Photo: Screenshot/Twitter)

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