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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.

6,853 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Regelmäßig gehen in Deutschland Menschen gegen die staatlichen Corona-Beschränkungen auf die Straße - nicht immer friedlich. Am 25. Oktober 2020 etwa brachen am Alexanderplatz in Berlin Protestierende aus der Menge heraus, die Polizei ging dagegen vor. Anhand eines Videos (hier archiviert) wird nun behauptet, ein Beamter habe dabei einem Demonstranten das Genick gebrochen - und ihn vorsätzlich getötet. In dem Clip ist zu sehen, wie ein Mann von einem Polizisten gepackt wird und dann auf den Boden fällt. «Mord vor laufender Kamera!!», heißt es.

Publisher’s rating: Der Demonstrant kam nicht ums Leben, Sanitäter kümmerten sich um ihn. In weiteren Videos ist der Mann später wieder stehend zu sehen.

The claim concerns footage from a police operation during protests against Germany’s coronavirus restrictions at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz on 25 October 2020. It alleges that an officer broke a demonstrator’s neck and deliberately killed him. The review identifies the widely shared scene as a short clip from Turkish-funded broadcaster TRT Deutsch, which reported on the protests but, according to the review, did not mention a broken neck or a death. To assess what happened, the review describes comparing the clip with footage from other perspectives and later recordings of the same incident. In one alternate-angle video, the man moves his head after falling, and an officer places him in the recovery position. Other recordings show officers moving him to a building wall, where he continues to move; footage taken when emergency responders arrived shows him standing. These recordings provide visual evidence that the clip’s brief view of him on the ground does not establish the claimed fatal outcome. The review also sought accounts from the Berlin police and fire brigade. Police said the arrest followed the man punching an officer, and that he suddenly collapsed while being detained. They said officers promptly began first aid, called an ambulance, and found that his vital signs remained present and there were no visible injuries before handing him over to Berlin Fire Brigade personnel. The fire brigade told the agency that it had no Alexanderplatz ambulance deployment on 25 October involving a person who died.

YouturnCrime & justice

ஹத்ராஸ் உத்திரபிரதேசத்தில் உள்ள ஹத்ராஸில் நடந்த பெண்ணின் கொலையை திசைதிருப்பி கலவரத்தை தூண்டியவள் (இறந்த பெண்ணின் அண்ணி என்று கூறிக் கொண்ட நக்சலைட் பெண்). தற்பொழுது டெல்லியில் நடக்கும் விஷமிகளின் (விவசாயிகளின்) போராட்டக் களத்தில். தேசதுரோக நக்சல்கள்.

Publisher’s rating: Fake

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaCrime & justice

Did A ‘Political Thug’ Of Minister Prasanna Ranatunga Assault A Woman Officer At The Udugampola Provincial RDA Office?

Publisher’s rating: False

The review investigated a video of a woman officer being assaulted at the Udugampola office of the Western Provincial Road Development Authority. It identified the assailant as the office’s chief engineer. The assault itself was confirmed; the disputed part was the claim that he acted as a political associate of Minister Prasanna Ranatunga.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaCrime & justice

මෑතකදී මුස්ලිම් තරුණයෙකු බදුල්ලේ සිංහල තරුණියක් දූෂණය කර නිදහස් වුවා ද? Did a Muslim youth rape a Buddhist girl from Badulla and escape punishment under Sharia Law

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review traced the circulating allegation—that a Muslim boyfriend raped a Sinhala girl in Badulla and was released under Sharia law—to an older social-media post, rather than finding evidence of a recent incident. The post was presented alongside a question about whether the government protected women, and the review says its investigation found that the underlying story had appeared in a misleading post from 2018. The account quoted in that post described an alleged incident at Dunhinda Falls and claimed that the girl left the police station without legal action. These are claims reproduced from the social-media post, not findings established by the review. Evidence: “මෙම පුවතට සම්බන්ධ මුල් සටහන 2018 වසරේ පළවූ නෙමග යවන සුළු සටහනක් බවය”; “අද දින උදෑසන ඇය මේ මුස්ලිම් පෙම්වතාත් සමග දුන්හිද ඇල්ල වෙත ගොස් ඇත.” To check the allegation’s timing, the review examined the image’s “Wekanda Hatana” Facebook-page mark and searched that page. It reports finding a longer post dated 28 July 2014, which described the alleged encounter and said it ended with a complaint to Badulla Police. The review then contacted Badulla Police, which referred the investigators to the Badulla Division Women’s Bureau. An officer there said no such incident had been reported in recent times. The review therefore distinguishes the older, unverified social-media story from the claim that the event had happened recently. Evidence: “එහිදී 2014 වසරේ ජූලි මස 28 වැනි දින පහත ඇති දීර්ඝ කථාංගය සහිත සටහන නිරීක්ෂණය විය”; “මෑත කාලයේදී මෙවැනි සිදුවීමක් වාර්තා නොවු බව එහි නිලධාරිනියක් අපට තහවුරු කර සිටියා.” The review also addressed the claim that Sharia law explained the alleged release. The officer reportedly said that Sharia law would not apply in such a case. The review further reports her distinction between consensual sex between adults aged over 18 and sex with a woman’s non-consent, which she said constitutes rape and would be subject to law enforcement. The review does not establish whether the alleged 2014 event occurred; it says the social-media account was misleading and that the recent-incident claim was unsupported by the police contact it describes. Evidence: “මෙවැනි සිද්ධියකදී ශරියා නීතියක් ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවන බව පැවසූ ඇය”; “රවටාගෙන ස්ථානයකට ගෙන ගොස් තරුණියගේ අකමැත්තෙන් ලිංගිකව හැසීරීම දුෂණය කිරීමක් බවත්, එවන් අවස්ථාවක නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බව ද පැවසූවාය.”

FACTLYCrime & justice

Police caught hold of a fake Sikh in farmers protest.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video showing police forcibly removing a Sikh man’s turban, shared as evidence that police had caught a “fake Sikh” during the farmers’ protest in Delhi. FACTLY’s review says the video instead depicts an earlier protest by Zilla Parishad Veterinary pharmacists, who were demanding regularization of their jobs. It reports that two policemen forcibly removed a protester’s turban during that demonstration. The review therefore distinguishes the incident shown in the video from the later farmers’ protest. To trace the footage, FACTLY says a reverse image search of screenshots led to a 2011 YouTube video with similar visuals. Its caption described an incident involving a Punjab Police officer at Mohali Stadium. Searching with relevant keywords then led the reviewer to news reports about the veterinary pharmacists’ protest; the review says another report stated that the two policemen involved were suspended. The review concludes that the man in the footage was a Sikh and that the incident had no connection to the ongoing farmers’ protest in Delhi. It also notes that FACTLY had previously debunked the same video when it was circulated with a claim linking it to CAA protests. The evidence described in the review thus points to an old video being recirculated with a misleading account of its setting.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaCrime & justice

රකථන ගෙන්වා මුල්‍ය වංචාවක් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතාව අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට කැඳවූවාද? Harin Fernando was not summoned to CID regarding a fraud involving mobile phones

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a social-media post alleging that Harin Fernando had been called to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for an investigation into a financial fraud involving phones imported through a telephone company. The post paired his photograph with wording alleging a 350-million-rupee scam and that he was being summoned. The review investigated whether he had in fact been summoned over that allegation. The fact-checker says it searched for reports in the mainstream media about Fernando being called in for such an investigation, but found none. It then contacted Fernando by telephone. According to the review, he said he had never been involved in importing phones through companies and had not, up to that point, received a summons to appear before the CID for an investigation into this kind of financial fraud. The review also says it asked the CID about the post. A CID officer told the fact-checker that the department had not received a complaint about a financial fraud involving Fernando. On the evidence reported, the review concluded that he had not been summoned to the CID over the alleged phone-import fraud. Its findings concern this specific allegation and the checks described in the article; they do not establish anything beyond that scope.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Delhi police detaining people and putting them in jail for ten hours for not wearing a mask

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a social-media video said to show Delhi police detaining people for not wearing masks and putting them in jail for ten hours. FACTLY says the video instead shows police in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. Its review points to a Madhya Pradesh registration number on a police vehicle in the footage and says it found a local news video with similar visuals and a news article reporting the same incident. This evidence identifies the location of the video as Ujjain, not Delhi. [S1]