The image which has been shared by Pakistan-based accounts is old and is not at all related to the last rites of a “Rafale pilot of the Indian Air Force”.
The government on Wednesday debunked claims by many Pakistan-based accounts claiming that a photo shows the last rites of a Rafale pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF) who died on May 7. The photo is going viral on social media. The image is actually from 2008 and unrelated to the current context, the PIB Fact Check Unit said.
A reverse image search directed us to a CNN report from September, 2011, titled, “India’s burning issue with emissions from Hindu funeral pyres” which used the same photo as a representative image. The image was captioned, “Hindus pay last respects at a mass cremation of 15 school girls on the banks of the river Orsang in Bamroli in the Indian state of Gujarat, April 16, 2008,” and was attributed to AFP/Getty Images.
The same image was on Getty, and the caption read, “Indian villagers pay last respects at a mass cremation of fifteen school girls at the banks of the river Orsang in Bamroli, some 165 kms from Ahmedabad on April 16, 2008. At least 44 people, most of them children on their way to school, drowned when their bus plunged into the Narmada canal at Bodeli in the western Indian state of Gujarat. AFP PHOTO/Sam PANTHAKY (Photo credit should read SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images)”
An old image is going viral on social media, with many Pakistan-based accounts claiming that it shows the last rites of a Rafale pilot of the #IndianAirForce who died on 7 May 2025.#PIBFactCheck
❌ This claim is completely fake.
✅ The image is actually from 2008 and… pic.twitter.com/bud4awxcRP
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 14, 2025
The government had earlier debunked claims that India had launched a drone attack on the Nankana Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan. Nankana Sahib is the birthplace of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and the gurdwara is a revered shrine and pilgrimage centre for Sikhs.
“A video shared on social media is claiming that India has carried out a drone attack on the Nankana Sahib gurdwara. This claim is completely fake,” the PIB Fact Check Unit said, adding that such content was being circulated to create communal hatred in India.
The PIB Fact Check Unit also said that claims on social media about destruction of Indian army posts were false and that a video shared in this regard dated back to 2020.