Fact Check: This Is Not The Picture Of Hathras Incident Victim, Viral Claim is Fake

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A picture of a girl is viral on social media with a claim that she is the gang rape victim of Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.

Vishvas News investigation revealed the claim is fake. The photo of another girl is shared with fake claims linked to Hathras incident.

Claim

Social media user ‘ਰਜਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਰਾਜਨ’ (Rajinder Singh Rajan) sharing the viral picture (archive link ) wrote, “This daughter was raped in Hathras and her tongue was cut off…”

Many others have shared this picture with similar claims. Twitter user ‘Geet’ sharing this picture (archive link ) wrote, “My heart breaks just thinking about what this beautiful innocent girl must have endured (gang raped, tongue cut off, neck & spinal cord broken). No one should face such torture Broken heart. Enough is enough! Things needs to change..now!”

Investigation

Vishvas News has not made public the name and identity of the victim girl, keeping in mind the guidelines set for reporting sexual offenses. Along with this, we respect the feelings of the family members while confirming the identity of the victim. Instead of calling the girl’s family members, we contacted her relatives to confirm the identity.

The difference between can be clearly seen in the comparative observation of the picture of the victim and the picture of the girl going viral. Both the pictures are of two different girls and the viral picture is not of Hathras victim.

Vishvas News did not confirm the independent identity of the viral photo shared in the name of Hathras incident. However, we could confirm that it is not a picture of the Hathras incident victim.

Dainik Jagran’s reporter and in-charge of Hathras, Himanshu Gupta, who covered the incident, said, “The viral picture is not of the Hathras victim.” Gupta confirmed this to several family members of the victim. He told us that this picture is of another girl.

Significantly, a video is also viral on social media, which is shared as of Hathras incident. Gupta said the video was recorded at the district hospital Hathras on September 14, in which the victim girl can be heard naming the accused. He told, “The girl belonged to the Dalit community and a case has been filed against the accused under the SC-ST Act.”

The viral post had claimed that after the rape victim’s, tongue was cut off. However, the Hathras police have denied these claims.

According to the news published on 30 September 2020 in ‘Dainik Jagran’, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has constituted a three-member SIT committee to investigate the village Boolgarhi case of Chandpa, police station area of ​​Hathras to investigate the matter and submit its report within seven days.

The user, who shared the viral picture with a false claim, has described himself as a promoter in his profile . This profile is active since August 2014.