Fact Check: Fake MHA circular regarding Chinese firecrackers goes viral again
Vishvas News investigated the viral post in the name of the Ministry of Home Affairs and found that the claim is false. No such post has been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. People are sharing false claims on social media.
- By: Pragya Shukla
- Published: Oct 13, 2022 at 08:42 AM
Vishvas News (New Delhi): A message attributed to the Ministry of Home Affairs is being circulated on social media platforms. It is being claimed that Senior Investigating Officer of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Vishwajit Mukherjee has revealed that this Diwali, China is sending crackers with dangerous chemicals in India. Through these firecrackers, China wants to spread asthma and eye diseases in India.
Vishvas News investigated the claim and found the claim to be baseless. No such warning has been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. People are sharing false claims on social media.
Claim
Facebook user Mohinder Singh shared this post and wrote, “A Serious Alert* … According to intelligence reports A distraught and frustrated Pakistan, since it is incapable of attacking India in a direct war, is seeking Chinese help to cause the following damage/ disturbance in India … Please read this carefully and take proper care to safeguard your family from any kind of health or other problems….A different kind of crackers that produce smoke to cause Asthma in people who inhale that smoke.Besides these crackers are also designed to produce Carbon Monoxide to cause breathing difficulty in people. further, China is reportedly producing decorative coloured electric bulbs and serial bulbs with a high content of Mercury. The light produced / emitted by these bulbs can be highly injurious and cause vision related disturbances in persons exposed to the light, especially children. China is planning to flood the Indian market with these dangerous products considering the festive season ahead from Janmashtami till Diwali and Christmas.The public are advised to consider the above mentioned information seriously in their own interest and totally avoid purchasing any and all such products Made in China. This measure is very essential for the well being of all Indians. The Citizens are hereby requested to forward and propagate this serious alert to the maximum extent possible among contacts, friends and relatives to safeguard the people as well as the economy of the country …
Jai Hind From : Biswajit Mukherjee, Senior Investigation Officer, The Home Ministry ( Ministry of Home affairs) Government of India”
Other users on social media are sharing similar claims with this post. Check the post and its archive version here.
Investigation:
Vishvas News started its investigation by doing a keyword search. We did not find any credible media reports related to the claim.
We started scanning the website of the Ministry of Home Affairs, but we did not find any information or press release related to the claim on the website too.
During investigation, we found that there is no such post like Senior Investigating Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs. After this we started searching about Vishwajit Mukherjee, but we could not find any officer by the same name on the documents available on the ministry’s website.
We found that this post has been viral on social media since 2017.
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) had tweeted in 2020 that this viral message is fake. No such notice was issued by MHA.
For more information, we contacted Dainik Jagran’s National Bureau journalist Neelu Ranjan. He told us that this claim is false. This message has been going viral on social media for many years. No such disclosure has been made by the government so far. The Home Ministry itself has denied this claim.
At the end of the investigation, we scanned the profile of Facebook user Mohinder Singh who shared this post. We found that the user has more than five thousand friends. The user is influenced by a particular ideology.
Conclusion: Vishvas News investigated the viral post in the name of the Ministry of Home Affairs and found that the claim is false. No such post has been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. People are sharing false claims on social media.
- Claim Review : The Home Ministry issued circular regarding Chinese firecrackers.
- Claimed By : Mohinder Singh
- Fact Check : False
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