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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Crime & justice fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about crime & justice. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

6,833 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYCrime & justice

Video of a young Hindu pilgrim being taken into custody by the Kerala police

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns footage of a crying young Ayyappa devotee speaking with police in Sabarimala, which social-media posts presented as showing Kerala police taking a child pilgrim into custody. FACTLY identifies the location of the incident as Nilakkal and reports that the child had become separated from his father in a crowd. Its account says the child was asking the police to help locate him, rather than being detained: “The footage shows a weeping child pilgrim urging police to locate his father, who reportedly got separated from him in the crowded area of Nilakkal.” The review describes several checks of the video and the claim. It says keyword searches located the same video in an Asianet Newsable tweet, and that Asianet News reported details of the incident. FACTLY also refers to an extended version of the video on Asianet News’s official YouTube channel. According to the review, that version shows the father arriving at the bus and the child waving goodbye. A Sannidhanam police-station officer was also quoted as saying the child had been reunited with his father. The vehicle visible in the extended footage is a further piece of evidence against the custody interpretation. FACTLY says the child boards a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus, identifying the vehicle by its KSRTC logo and number plate, KL-15 A-814. The review concludes that the video shows a child seeking police help to find his father, not a child being taken into custody; it also says the incident has no communal angle.