Old video of girl gang-raped in Sindh, Pakistan passed off as that of a Dalit girl in Gujarat; Fact Check

A video clip showing a girl crying and rolling around on mud is making the rounds on social media with a claim that she was a 12-year-old Dalit girl and was allegedly gang-raped by a group of Hindu men in Gujarat before they left her in a jungle.

The girl was identified as Jumna Kumari. The claim shared by others alleged that that “#Dalits are treated worse than animals in #India.”.

It can be seen shared here and here.

FACT CHECK

Digiteye India received a request to fact-check the claim on its WhatsApp link and we first made key frames out of the video and searched them in Google Reverse Image Search. The results showed us that the video was actually from Sindh, Pakistan. It was reported in local news outlets, and the incident took place on Friday, June 7, 2019.

As per the Gulf News, the girl, named as Jumna Saami, was intoxicated and brutally assaulted by men before leaving her in a sports ground. The report revealed that the accused were brothers by names — Roshan Shaikh and Rajab Shaikh. The information was shared initially by human rights activist Kapil Dev and the Pakistani police had arrested them.

It said, “Sindh police has booked two main accused rapists under Section 376 & 34 of Pakistan Penal Code who are now arrested. Acc to Sec 376, if anyone commits rape, shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than 7 years, which may extend to imprisonment for life.” The incident was also reported by other news outlets here and here.

Hence, the incident occurred in the Sindh province of Pakistan, not in India, as claimed.

Claim: A 12-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped by a group of Hindu men in Gujarat before they left her in a jungle, with a claim that “Dalits are treated worse than animals in India.”

Conclusion: False. The incident occurred in Sindh Province, Pakistan in June 2019, and not in India.

Rating: Misinterpretation —

About Sridevi P

Sridevi, a business management graduate from Osmania University, Hyderabad has contributed fact-checks whenever she found time. She can be reached at psridevi@digiteye.in

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