Sanjiv Bhatt, the controversial IPS officer of Gujarat who made damaging but untenable accusations against the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is now reduced to making damaging and downright false allegations against the security forces in Kashmir.
On Sunday, Bhatt tweeted the following picture from Kashmir claiming that it showed a local child aiming a slingshot to attack a policeman:
The picture was soon shared by thousands of people, many of them being Pakistanis, who showcased it as a “proof” of how India was illegally “occupying” Kashmir and that even a child hated the Indian security forces.
The picture was remarkably similar to many other viral images that often show a Palestinian child at odds with Israeli soldiers, and thus it was a goldmine for propagandists who equate India with Israel and exhort people to join Jihad against India.
And such propaganda was enabled by Sanjiv Bhatt because he made a sinister and false claim about the picture. It painted the Indian security forces as heartless beasts who are hated even by a child.
Within a couple of hours of the discredited cop posting the picture, many Twitter users pointed out that he was spreading false information, because the child was not aiming at the policemen, but playing with them:
https://twitter.com/StuteeMishra/status/759806180482875392
Another picture of the same child smiling and sitting at ease behind a policeman can be seen here.
So a playful gesture from a Kashmiri child was presented as proof of state failure by Sanjiv Bhatt. What was more shocking is that despite his lie being called out, Bhatt didn’t bother to delete his tweet, which continued to be shared by anti-India propagandists.
Realizing that it could hurt India’s image, senior journalist and editor of ANI news agency Smita Prakash earlier today asked Sanjiv Bhatt to delete his tweet:
https://twitter.com/smitaprakash/status/760118853636546562
The suspended police officer had not removed the picture or tweeted any clarification till the time of filing this report. The tragedy is that even if he were to delete his tweet now – more than 24 hours after he posted it – the picture has now been spread at many places by miscreants to be used for anti-India and anti-Army propaganda.
Looks like Hafiz Saeed will next praise Sanjiv Bhatt for his “good work”.