The news about senior police officer Davinder Singh who served as the Deputy Superintendent of Police being caught ferrying three militants in Kulgam district has gotten India in disbelief. This followed the arrest and interrogation of Davinder Singh and a raid was conducted at his house where two pistols, an AK rifle and ammunition was seized. As of now, reports say that he has been stripped off the awards given to him and many reports mention a meritorious Gallantry award. Several news reports from news platforms like NDTV, Scroll and Aljazeera have reported it.

However, the Jammu and Kashmir released a statement to clarify the confusion and misinformation that exists around what award Singh was awarded and when it was awarded. According to their statement, Singh was not awarded any “gallantry or meritorious medal by MHA” and the only Gallantry award received by him was on Independence Day of 2018. 

Now, let us look at the various misinformative reports published by renowned news agencies.  

Firstly, a part of a news article published by NDTV reads, “Sources told NDTV that the police officer, who was awarded President's Police Medal for Gallantry just six months ago, had transported Naveed multiple times to different places”. This is false information because the J&K Police have confirmed that he had received a Gallantry award only in 2018 and thus, NDTV claiming that he had received one “just six months ago” is misleading. Moreover, they themselves posted another article which talked about the misinformation that news agencies are publishing.

Another news platform that published misinformation was Scroll. A report article published by them on this situation read, “Davinder Singh was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry on August 15 last year” which is false because he was not awarded the Gallantry award on August 15th of 2019 but 2018. Aljazeera reported “Singh was once injured in a police operation and was given the Indian president’s gallantry award in 2019” which is absolutely false. 

The J&K Police also said that the claims made that Singh was awarded a Gallantry award by the Union Home Ministry in 2019 are for another officer under the same name. This may be the reason for the confusion regarding the award that Singh received. Moreover, it has been clarified by Shallen Kabra, Principal Secretary (Home) who signed the government order which said “Consequent upon the arrest of Mr Davinder Singh on January 11 while trying to assist terrorist to travel outside J&K and recovery of arms and ammunition which amounts to disloyalty and conduct that has brought the force into disrepute, the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Medal for Gallantry, is hereby forfeited,”

Apart from news platforms reporting misinformation, as mentioned by the J&K Police statement, some social media users have also been spreading misleading information.