[The story uses only screenshots of relevant social media posts, instead of embedding the actual posts, to hold back the identity of the minor girl involved]
A video featuring a man carrying a girl and some papers in his hands and blaming the Modi government for the lack of safety for women in the country has been making rounds on social media. The video is claimed to be shot near the Parliament House in New Delhi and the man in the video is said to be a grieving father whose five-year-old daughter is a rape survivor.
Facebook user Brijlal Sahu, whose bio says ‘Works at Indian National Congress’, shared the video with the following caption in Hindi, which said a 5-year-old girl had been raped in Delhi and the girl’s father protested near the Parliament House with the girl and alleged that Modi was to blame for the rape.
Some users claimed the man was blaming ‘Moily’ for the alleged crime, seemingly referring to Veerappa Moily, the Congress politician from Karanataka.
Twitter user ‘Surya Raj नागवंशी’ shared the said video on May 2 with a caption that said, “A 5-year-old innocent girl was raped in Delhi… The girl’s father took her and went in front of the Parliament House and alleged that Moily is to blame for the rape.” The tweet has received over 44,000 views and 1,600 retweets. (Archive)
Many other social media users shared the video with similar claims, either saying the man was referring to Modi or Moily.
Fact Check
A keyword search in Hindi led us to a report by ABP live from December 5, 2019, on protests over crimes against women which were held at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi after the rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor in Hyderabad in November 2019. The report carried a photo of the man in the viral video.
We also found ABP Live’s video coverage of the protest, where the viral video can be seen. (Archive)
The news channel shared the same video on Twitter the same day and many other users tweeted it tagging/mentioning Indian National Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh Sachin Chaudhary as the man featured in the viral video carrying his daughter with him.
The politician himself tweeted the same video on December 5, 2019. He wrote: “बेटियों की सुरक्षा के लिए संसद के सामने अपनी बेटी को लेकर पहुंचा तो पुलिस वालों ने घसीटा, गिरफ्तार किया।
मोदीराज में बेटियां सुरक्षित नहीं है
मोदी सरकार मुर्दाबाद”
(For the safety of the daughters, I went in front of the Parliament with my own daughter, the police dragged and arrested me.
Daughters are not safe in Modi raj
Down with Modi government) (Archive)
We also noted that on May 2, Delhi police took to Twitter refuting the viral claims shared with the video and tweeted: “Few handles are sharing an old video of protest held during Dec. 2019 at Kartavya Path, claiming to be video of father of a five years old rape victim.
Such information is false and malicious. People are advised not to share such wrong information.
#fakenews
#DelhiPoliceUpdates” (Archive)
Few handles are sharing an old video of protest held during Dec. 2019 at Kartavya Path, claiming to be video of father of a five years old rape victim.
Such information is false and malicious. People are advised not to share such wrong information.#fakenews#DelhiPoliceUpdates— Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) May 2, 2023
To sum up, the claims made in the viral posts are misleading. The video is from 2019 and the man in the video is a politician and Congress party member who had taken part in protests against rape and other crimes against women.
Oishani Bhattacharya is an intern at Alt News.
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