Fake visuals, defamed civilians, and fabricated wars: How Indian mainstream media failed during operation Sindoor

‘Freedom of the press does not grant a license to publish defamatory or misleading material’

Originally published on Global Voices

In early May 2025, India launched “Operation Sindoor”, a military response to a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, that killed 26 tourists. Indian officials blamed Pakistan for the attack — an accusation that Pakistani officials staunchly denied.

As the nation braced for heightened hostilities with Pakistan, millions turned to their television screens for accurate coverage of the national security crisis. What they received instead, across multiple major news channels, was a barrage of fabricated visuals, defamed civilians, and entirely fictional war reports.

This article documents three patterns of journalistic failure during Operation Sindoor, based on formal complaints filed with broadcasting regulators, independent fact-checking investigations, court orders, and an expose by The Washington Post.

When a teacher became a “terrorist”

On May 7, 2025, as cross-border shelling intensified along the Line of Control in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir, a 47-year-old religious teacher named Maulana Qari Mohammad Iqbal stepped out to buy groceries for his students in India. He was among twelve civilians killed that day by Pakistani artillery fire.

But while his family began grieving, India’s News18 MP Chhattisgarh broadcast a segment that transformed their tragedy into a nightmare. The channel misidentified Iqbal as a “top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander” and a “most-wanted terrorist” killed in an Indian airstrike. The broadcast used his photograph, taken from a condolence post shared by a colleague, and paired it with dramatic triumphal rhetoric.

The reality was completely different. The Poonch Police officially confirmed that Iqbal had no links to any militant organisation and was a respected religious figure in the local community. His family publicly condemned the coverage. “We were already wounded, and now this tragedy has struck us”, said his brother-in-law, Ishaq Khayan.

Other channels followed the same path. Republic World labelled Iqbal a “top LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) commander involved in major terror attacks, including Pulwama”, while Zee News called him a “terrorist” killed during Operation Sindoor. Local residents staged protests over the false accusations.

The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), a human rights organisation, filed a formal complaint with the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) against News18 MP Chhattisgarh, detailing violations of accuracy, impartiality, privacy, and responsible crime reporting.

On June 28, 2025, a court in the Punch district of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir delivered a landmark judgment. Sub-Judge Shafeeq Ahmed directed the Jammu and Kashmir Police to register a First Information Report (FIR) against News18, Zee News, and unspecified editorial staff under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (Indian Justice Code), related to public mischief, defamation, and promoting enmity between religious groups, as well as under Section 66 of India’s Information Technology Act.

The court’s observations were critical. “The act of branding a deceased civilian teacher of a local religious seminary as a ‘Pakistani terrorist’ without any verification, particularly during a period of Indo-Pak hostilities, cannot be dismissed as a mere journalistic lapse”, the judge wrote. The court further observed that while some channels had issued apologies following public backlash, “an apology may have mitigating value at the stage of sentencing but does not preclude the statutory duty of police to register an FIR”.

The family, represented by advocate Sheikh Mohammad Saleem, has since filed defamation lawsuits seeking INR 50 million (USD 5,28,500) in damages. “It still haunts us”, said Tariq Manzoor, Iqbal’s nephew. “They showed his bloodied body and claimed he was behind Pulwama. These lies have deeply wounded our family and community”.

Recycled wars: How Aaj Tak sold old footage as “Live Combat”

While News18 invented terrorists, Aaj Tak, one of India’s largest Hindi news channels, invented a war. On two separate occasions in May 2025, the channel broadcast outdated footage from entirely different conflicts, falsely presenting it as real-time visuals of Indian military operations.

The first incident dates to May 7, 2025, when senior anchor Anjana Om Kashyap was hosting a segment. The broadcast showed dramatic visuals of missiles being launched and claimed they depicted Indian strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. However, reverse image searches traced the footage to a Sputnik Armenia news report published on October 13, 2023, which clearly stated that the video showed Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. The visuals had nothing to do with India, Pakistan, or Operation Sindoor.

Just two days later, on May 9, 2025, Aaj Tak repeated the offence. The channel aired a video showing an air defence system intercepting incoming threats. Anchor Anjana Om Kashyap claimed the footage showed a Pakistani air attack being stopped in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Independent fact-checking revealed that the original video had been uploaded to YouTube on May 10, 2021, four years before the broadcast by NSF Channel. The accompanying caption explicitly identified the visuals as showing Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system.

The CJP filed a formal complaint against Aaj Tak for both broadcasts, noting that the channel aired no corrective statements or clarifications. The complaint detailed violations of NBDSA guidelines on impartiality, accuracy, and, critically, national security. By broadcasting fake visuals of active combat during a live military situation, the channel risked misleading international observers and inflaming tensions.

Fiction as news: The Washington Post exposes the war that never was

The failures of News18 and Aaj Tak were not isolated. According to a comprehensive investigation published by The Washington Post in June 2025, the problem was systemic, involving multiple major news channels.

The Washington Post report named Zee News, NDTV, Aaj Tak, and Times Now as among the channels that broadcast fabricated war reports, including claims that Karachi had been destroyed, Pakistan’s army chief had been arrested, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister had surrendered. These claims were presented as breaking news without any confirmation from the Indian military. The Post described Indian television coverage as being “in the grip of fiction writers”.

The report further alleged that retired Indian military officials were brought in as pundits to lend credibility to fabricated narratives, and that unverified “leaks” from government-affiliated WhatsApp groups were relayed to news anchors without journalistic verification. One Indian security official anonymously admitted to The Washington Post that spreading misinformation was a deliberate war tactic, one that ultimately backfired and embarrassed India on the global stage.

The CJP’s complaints against six channels, Aaj Tak, ABP News, Times Now Navbharat, NDTV, India TV, and News18, further detailed how recycled footage from the Israel-Gaza conflict and four-year-old videos of Israel’s Iron Dome were systematically passed off as exclusive visuals of India’s military prowess.

The cost of abandoning journalism

The consequences of this misinformation campaign extend far beyond reputational damage. A grieving family has had to fight a defamation battle while mourning their loss. A religious community has seen one of its respected teachers falsely branded a terrorist on national television. The Indian public was systematically misled about the nature of military operations during an active conflict.

The Poonch court’s words serve as an apt conclusion. “Freedom of the press does not grant a license to publish defamatory or misleading material”, the judge wrote, “and when such conduct results in serious harm to individuals or society at large, it must be addressed in accordance with law”.

As India reflects on the media’s performance during Operation Sindoor, one question remains: will there be accountability, or will the next crisis bring another round of recycled footage, defamed civilians, and wars that never happened?

News Desk

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