Viral: Old, false case from Meerut circulated as recent incident of rape inside madrasa

मेरठ के मदरसे में इस हिन्दू बेटी से कई महीनो तक हुआ बलात्कार पर हमारा सारा मीडिया मौन ऐसा क्यों ?
कोई पत्रकार इस पर नहीं बोलता, इस पर कोई बहस नहीं क्योंकि मामला मदरसे का है और मौलवी का है, अगर किसी मंदिर का होता और साधू संत का तब सारा मीडिया अगले 6 महीने तक समाचार चलाता और बताता की सारे साधू संत रेपिस्ट होते हैं मंदिरों को बंद करो (This Hindu daughter was raped for months inside a madrassa in Meerut but our media is silent. Why? No journalist speaks about it, no debate is held because it is about a madrassa and maulvi. Had a temple or Hindu saint been involved, then for the media it would have been news for 6 months and it would have said all Hindu saints are rapist, temples must be closed down- translated)

A video of a young woman speaking to reporters is circulating in large numbers on social media. In the video, the woman is alleging that she was gang raped inside a madrassa, and was pressured to convert to Islam by her captors who abused her and her faith. On Facebook, this video is being shared widely. The page We Support RSS which has over 600,000 followers posted this video on April 14 and it has so far been shared more than 23,000 times on the social media platform.

Another page Azaad Bharat which has more than 750,000 followers posted it on April 15 and it has been shared close to 10,000 times. This video has also been shared on a Facebook group Mission Ram Mandir mein apne 100 Dosto ko Jode.

The share count on this video is massive, running into thousands. Also, these videos were uploaded in April 2018 and were brought to Alt News’ notice by a social media user. Alt News fact checked this claim and found that this particular case is not a recent incident but dates back to August 2014. News had emerged from Meerut that a woman was allegedly gang-raped and forcibly converted. It was alleged that the crime had taken place inside a madrassa.

Tension had gripped the town of Meerut in August 2014 and the love jihad bogey was invoked by Hindutva groups. In an interesting turn of events however, later that year, the young woman who had alleged rape and forcible conversion withdrew the case. She stated that no such crime had been committed on her and that she had gone to her beloved, who belonged to another faith, of her own accord. Later in 2015, the woman married the accused.

The incidents of Kathua and Unnao had recently led to an outpouring of anger against the BJP led government. It has been observed that supporters and enthusiasts of the government are repeatedly trying to dilute the gravity of the crimes of Unnao and Kathua by constantly resorting to whataboutery and rampant misinformation. Continuing the same trend, an incident which had occurred four years back and resulted in eventual withdrawal of the case is now being portrayed as a recent event.