Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. On an average every day roughly 88 cases are registered by the victims throughout the country. According to National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) 2019 statistics Rajasthan was the recorded as the highest state with rape cases(15.9), with states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala following. In 2018, every fourth rape victim in India was a minor while more than 50 per cent of them fell in the age category of 18 to 30 years, according to the National Crime Records Bureau data. The NCRB data also showed that in almost 94 out of 100 rape cases, the victim were known to the offenders.
Recently, Republic Bharat had tweeted that Priyanka Gandhi snubbed the family of a girl who was allegedly raped in Rajasthan. Several social media users shared the same claim on Facebook and Twitter.
To ascertain the sequence of events, we watched the LIVE streaming of Priyanka Gandhi’s address in Mathura on Tuesday, 23 February that was aired on Congress’ official handle. At 08:50 minutes, Priyanka stopped her speech and can be seen walking down the stage. A person present on the stage says on the mic, “Didi neeche aa rahi hain, kripya rukein (Didi is coming down, kindly wait).” In the background one can hear people on the stage saying, “Aane do, aane do usko (let them come).”
The media outlet also carried a report on the same, however, both the tweet and the article were later taken down. It is pertinent to note that one of the channel’s tweet carrying the false claim was still up at the time of publishing the article. The said tweet contains a link, which directed us to the home page of the website.
As per sources, an alleged rape survivor’s mother from Rajasthan who was present in the gathering was chanting slogans to seek justice. “The Congress leader was on stage, addressing the farmers’ meeting, when she was interrupted by the woman’s slogans. Priyanka Gandhi then spoke to the woman and took her aside. She dialed Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on the spot and asked him to help the rape survivor,” the report added
