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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.

6,854 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

"Achtung an alle Neunkirchen und umgebungen" (sic!): Die Polizei habe "heute" an Schulen in Bad Kreuznach auf den Fahrer eines weißen VW-Kleintransporters ("Bulli") aufmerksam gemacht und Kinder darauf hingewiesen, dass sie nicht in das Fahrzeug einsteigen sollen. Diese Warnung wird seit Jahren über soziale Medien verbreitet. Weil der Fahrer des Wagens "durch ganz Deutschland" fahren soll, folgt der dringende Aufruf zum Teilen

Publisher’s rating: Die Warnung basiert auf einem Gerücht. Der Beitrag wird in kaum abgewandelter Form seit mehr als acht Jahren verbreitet.

Ayaan KhanCrime & justice

The video is from Delhi and shows police protecting stone pelters

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video circulated during violence in northeast Delhi as evidence that Delhi Police were involved in the unrest. The review says the footage showed people pelting stones in police presence and was shared with that implication by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on 1 March and by Nagma Morarji on 29 February. The review identifies the footage as being from Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh—not Delhi. It says the video related to CAA protests that turned violent there on 20 December 2019, amid reports of a police crackdown. That provenance contradicts the claim’s framing of the footage as showing events in Delhi. To check the footage, the review reports conducting a reverse image search and finding a YouTube upload with the same visuals, posted on 5 January 2020. It then describes a keyword search that led to a Times of India video about stone-pelting and property being set ablaze in Firozabad. The review also says multiple Twitter accounts shared the footage as an incident from Firozabad. These steps support its conclusion that an older video from Uttar Pradesh was recirculated with a misleading Delhi attribution.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Photo of a girl who was raped and murdered by Muslims inside AAP councilor Tahir Hussain’s house during the recent Delhi riots

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim says the pictured girl was raped and murdered by Muslims inside AAP councillor Tahir Hussain’s house during the recent Delhi riots. FACTLY identifies the girl as Jyoti Patidar, a 12th-grade student from Parasuliyakalan village in Madhya Pradesh, and says she died at her residence on February 19 under suspicious circumstances. The review states that her death had no relation to the Delhi riots. To trace the image, the review reports searching the name associated with the girl in the post and finding a Dainik Bhaskar article featuring the same photo. FACTLY says that article identified Patidar and described her death as suspicious. It also reports that her family and relatives later complained to police that she might have been raped and killed; that allegation is presented as a complaint, not as an established finding. The review says the case was under investigation. Its account therefore distinguishes the unverified allegations surrounding Patidar’s death from the separate, unsupported attribution of her photo and death to the Delhi riots and Hussain’s house. The evidence described in the review supports identifying the photo with a Madhya Pradesh case, not with the claimed Delhi-riot incident.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Video of Delhi police brutally beating people

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video showing a police officer beating a woman holding a child, which was being shared as footage of Delhi Police brutality. FACTLY investigated the provenance of that specific clip and reported that it was an older video from Madhya Pradesh, not an incident involving Delhi Police. The review says the officers shown belonged to Gwalior Railway Police Station. To trace the clip, FACTLY says it searched Google for “Woman and child beaten by Police” and found an NDTV article published on 9 May 2019 that included a screenshot from the video. According to FACTLY’s account of that reporting, the incident took place at Gwalior Railway Police Station. The review further reports that Gwalior police said the video had been taken in 2017 and that they had not known about it until it went viral. FACTLY also cites Times of India reporting published on 10 May 2019, which said the constable seen beating the woman was suspended and that Gwalior Railway Police ordered a probe. Taken together, the review’s account of the clip’s earlier reporting and the identification of the police station place the video in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, rather than Delhi. The review notes that its focus was the false attribution of the video, not a justification of the conduct shown.

The QuintCrime & justice

Girl whose clothes were found in Tahir Hussain's house has been identified

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that a 13-year-old named Jyoti Patidar was the girl whose clothes were found in Tahir Hussain’s house and whose body was allegedly found in a drain. The Quint investigated the image circulating with that claim. Its review says the image was actually of a separate incident in Madhya Pradesh, involving an 18-year-old girl in Parsulya Kalan village—not a victim connected to Hussain’s house. The review describes a reverse-image search that led to a Dainik Bhaskar article published on 21 February with the same picture. That article reported that Jyoti Patidar’s body had been found in the village on 20 February. The Quint also spoke to Vivek Kanodiya, the Susner police station’s officer in charge, who confirmed that the incident occurred in Parsulya Kalan and that police were investigating it. The review reports that Patidar, a class 12 student, was alone at home when smoke was seen coming from the house and that police and fire officials were alerted. Police said the evidence pointed toward a possible suicide, while the investigation was ongoing. The family had accused a local boy, but police said their records showed he was not in the village at the time; they had filed a case against him under Section 306, concerning abetment of suicide. These details identify a distinct incident and do not support the post’s claim linking Patidar to Hussain’s house.

FACTLYCrime & justice

People destroying property during Delhi riots while Police watch

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video showing people damaging property in the presence of police, presented as footage of the recent Delhi riots. FACTLY’s investigation says the footage was already circulating months before those riots and identifies it as showing a different event: clashes between TMC and BJP workers in Dinhata, West Bengal. That timing and identification undermine the claim that this video depicts the Delhi riots. The review describes its checking method: it reverse-image-searched screenshots from the circulated video and found the same video in an earlier Facebook post. That post was uploaded on 1 July 2019. The review also reports finding the same video on YouTube in July 2019, and says the Facebook uploader supplied no information about the footage. The earlier upload establishes that the video existed before the Delhi-riot claim; the review’s identification of the scene places it in Dinhata, not Delhi. The footage had also been recirculated with other mistaken location claims, according to the review: it had previously been presented as showing clashes in Tripura and events in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. The review says those claims had been debunked and the footage identified as the Dinhata clashes. The finding is specific to the provenance of this video; it does not establish that no property destruction occurred during the Delhi riots.