Assamese newspaper trolled for using fake photograph

Guwahati: A city-based acclaimed Assamese newspaper has been trolled
in social media for using a fake photograph to narrate the horrible
story of Manipur in the front page of 19 June 2023 issue. The social
media users slammed the editor of Amar Asom for using a photograph,
which has been lifted from Myanmar’s influential Mizzima newspaper,
with a completely different content.

The original news related to the announcement of the National Unity
Government (of Burma) to take strict action against any member of the
people's defence force (PDF), who would be found guilty of killing the
concerned lady in the photograph. The lady (later identified as a
24-year-old teacher named Aye Mar Tun) was beaten and finally killed
for suspectedly being a military informant in November 2022.
Speaking to this correspondent from Yangon, Mizzima editor Soe Myint
confirmed that the photograph was taken six months back by one of
their scribes at Tamu locality of Sagaing region in northern Myanmar.
He affirmed that the lady was a Myanmarese (not a Manipuri). The
veteran Burmese editor also added that the concerned Assamese
newspaper did not take prior permission to publish the photograph in
any context.

Facing the heat, editor of the daily admitted that the photograph was
wrongly used in the news item depicting the troubled situation in
Manipur and he also apologized. Needless to mention that the tiny
State has been facing severe ethnic conflicts for more than a month
now, where hundreds have lost their lives and thousands are being
displaced. Lately, Dattatreya Hosabale (Sarkaryavah of Rashtreeya
Swayamsevak Sangh) has appealed for peace among various communities,
who have been living in Manipur for centuries with harmony.