**Bhubaneswar:** Rumour mongering has become the sought after trend of the day. Conservative estimates indicate that social media has evolved to be the most significant contributor to this fashion. It is appalling to note that the sacrifice and valiance of our soldiers is also a prey to this attitude on the whims and fancies of social media users.
The recent case, in which a clip showing the final moments of a grievously injured soldier, is a bright example of the repercussion of circulating videos without confirming ‘identities’ of the personalities.
This video was shared on the verified Facebook page of General VK Singh, who ensured not to name any officer while stating, “Young Officers are the strength of Indian army as they lead from front.”
Social media en-masse, including politicians, intellectuals and journalists shared this video, mistaking the officer to be Major Prafulla Ambadas Moharkar, who was killed in the ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Keri sector on Saturday.
The public did little to verify whether the video was really that of Major Prafulla. It cannot be because this video has been around on YouTube for over seven years.
In January 2017, CRPF posted this video on their verified Twitter account and identified the soldier as Assistant Commandant Satwant Singh.
Such videos often go viral after tragic events on the Indian borders, when we get to see Twitter and Facebook handles flooded with posts, raining patriotism, complemented with photos or clips.
The intention of this News Portal is not to demean the courage and supreme sacrifice of any soldier by any means. However, it is high time, we as users of social media show some responsibility while sharing such posts, by identifying the characters with our own imagination.
Does the valiance and heroics of our brave hearts need such indignified rumour-milling for glorification?
