No, Woman In Viral Video Is Not Wing Commander Abhinandan's Wife
The video was uploaded by Sirisha Rao whose husband is an Indian Army officer. Rao was appealing to political leaders to not politicise the issue of Indo-Pak tensions.
A video shared by the wife of an Indian Army officer asking not to politicise the current India and Pakistan tension is being shared with a false claim that she is the wife of Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.
On February 28, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan annouced that the IAF pilot captured by Pakistan authorities will be released on Friday as a "gesture of peace".
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A few hours before the announcement, a video started going viral claiming that Varthaman's wife has appealed to politicians to not belittle the sacrifice of the soldiers by politicising the issue.
The video was viral on Facebook and Twitter with a caption in Hindi "अभिनंदन की पत्नी का संदेश कि सैनिकों के बलिदान पर बीजेपी न करे राजनीति..!" which translate to 'Message from the wife of Abhinandan's asking BJP to not politicise the sacrifice of soldiers."
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It was also shared with the same caption by the official handle of Yuva Desh the online magazine of Indian Youth Congress.
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FACT-CHECK
In the 1.08-minute video, the woman can be been heard urging political leaders to not politicise the sacrifice of soldiers.
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The video starts with the woman saying, "Hello everyone, I am the wife of an army officer...". It should be noted that Varthaman is a pilot with the Indian Air Force and not the Indian Army.
BOOM further analysed the video and using advanced searches was able to determine that the woman speaking in the video is Sirisha Rao, a resident of Gurgaon. Rao had tweeted the video of her speaking from her personal handle with the caption, "Humble request .@BJP4India dont count your seats at the cost of soldiers sacrifice"
BOOM contacted Rao who confirmed she had recorded and posted the video. "Yes, I uploaded the video on my Twitter handle. It was an appeal to political leaders to not politicise the issue of our soldiers at the border," she said. Rao who is a volunter with Aam Aadmi Party said her husband was a Colonel in the Army but did not wish to divulge further details.
She further said, "In the video I clearly say I am the wife of an army officer and as we all know Varthaman is a pilot with the air force so why is it that people are sharing the video claiming I am his wife?"
