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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

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: Trichy Police Constable attacked for asking bribe

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The viral post alleged that a fish seller in Ariyamangalam, Trichy, attacked a police head constable with a sickle because the officer had demanded a bribe. The review identifies the injured officer as Hariharan, a head constable at Ariyamangalam Police Station, and the fish seller as Ismail. It says the attack did happen, but reports that Hariharan had gone to the Ukkadai area after being told that Ismail was creating a disturbance at a pharmacy while intoxicated. According to the review’s account of news reports it consulted, Ismail attacked Hariharan and fled; the review does not describe the incident as a response to a bribe demand. To check the social-media account, the review says it searched for information about the injured officer and the incident, finding reports from Dinamani, Nakkeeran and Times of India. It also searched the Tamil Nadu Police website for a registered FIR and contacted the Trichy City Police Commissioner’s office, which denied that the incident occurred because of a bribe demand. The commissioner’s office directed the reviewers to the relevant police station, which confirmed the attack and identified Ismail as the assailant. The station’s account, as quoted in the review, was that Hariharan intervened in a dispute at a local pharmacy and that Ismail attacked him with a sickle. It said Ismail had been arrested and described two case numbers: 348/19, relating to the pharmacy owner’s complaint, and 349/19, relating to the attack on the constable. The review concludes that the post’s bribe motive was false: the evidence it reports supports an attack on the officer, but not the claim that he was attacked for asking for a bribe.

The QuintCrime & justice

Dalit man dragged and beaten inside a mosque in Uttar Pradesh

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a circulating video said to show a Dalit man dragged and beaten inside a mosque in Uttar Pradesh. The Quint’s review says the footage does show a man being beaten inside a mosque, but reports that he was not Dalit. It identifies the incident as taking place in Hapur and the man as Sameer, a Muslim; the people beating him were also Muslims. The review describes how it investigated the footage: its reporters heard a reference to stolen mobile phones, then searched for reports using keywords about a man beaten inside a mosque for stealing in Uttar Pradesh. That led them to a Dainik Bhaskar report about a young man suspected of stealing phones in Hapur. The review also reports that Hapur Superintendent of Police Yesh Veer Singh confirmed the man in the video had been beaten and was not Dalit. According to the police account quoted in the review, Sameer was beaten on 29 May 2019 on suspicion of stealing phones from a group visiting from Bulandshahr. Police did not recover phones from him. The review says Sameer’s brother filed a complaint on 2 June, three people were arrested, and challans were issued. It also notes that the allegation about Sameer having confessed to theft came from the group that beat him, not from a recovered-phone finding reported by police.

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: Picture of Kerala church fathers who raped a woman

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post under review used a woman’s photograph alongside an image of priests and alleged that the men were the five Kerala priests accused of sexually assaulting a woman after she sought confession. The review says the underlying allegations against five priests had led church authorities to suspend them, but found that the Facebook post’s images did not identify the accuser or the accused priests. Its conclusion concerns the accuracy of the post’s identification, not whether the separate allegations against the five priests occurred. (S1: “கேரளாவில் பாவ மன்னிப்பு கேட்ட பெண்ணை, உண்மையை வெளியே கூறிவிடுவேன் என்று மிரட்டி பாலியல் பலாத்காரம் செய்ததாக ஐந்து பாதிரியார்கள் மீது குற்றம்சாட்டப்பட்டது. இதைத் தொடர்ந்து அந்த ஐந்து பாதிரியார்களை சஸ்பெண்ட் செய்து நடவடிக்கை எடுத்தது சர்ச் நிர்வாகம்.”) For the woman’s image, the review reports using a Yandex image search and identifying her as Dr. Anju Ramachandran, described there as a Hindu woman. It also says the image had been misrepresented on social media as showing the sexual-assault complainant and that Dr. Anju had complained to police about this misuse. For the priests’ image, the review reports using Google reverse-image search and tracing it to a photograph taken in 2013. It identifies the pictured men as church figures, including Msgr Nereus Rodrigues, Bishop John Rodrigues and Oswald Cardinal Gracias, and says they were not the accused priests. (S1: “அந்த பெண்ணின் படத்தை yandex.com இமேஜ் தேடலில் பதிவேற்றித் தேடினோம். அப்போது, படத்தில் இருப்பவர் டாக்டர் அஞ்சு ராமச்சந்திரன் என்ற இந்து பெண் என்று தெரிந்தது.”; “இந்த படம் 2013ம் ஆண்டு எடுக்கப்பட்டது. படத்தில் இருப்பவர்கள் பாலியல் குற்றவாளிகள் இல்லை என்பது தெரிந்தது.”) The review further notes that a report about the Kerala case showed four priests, while the Facebook post used different men; it says that the post also included a photograph of Archbishop Ezra Sargunam but found no information connecting him to the allegations. On the basis of these image checks and the lack of a connection between the people pictured and the case, the review concludes that the post circulated a false identification. (S1: “மேற்கண்ட ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவில் உள்ளவர்களும் அந்த படத்திலிருந்தவர்களும் வேறாக இருந்தனர்.”; “பாலியல் குற்றச்சாட்டில் தொடர்பில்லாத பெண், பாதிரியார்கள் புகைப்படத்தை வெளியட்டு” )

台灣事實查核中心Crime & justice

路邊停車開單員也能開立違規告發單

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim concerns roadside parking fee staff issuing citations for parking violations. The review distinguishes those workers from traffic personnel authorized to enforce parking rules. It reports that Taipei’s Parking Management and Engineering Office said roadside parking staff can issue only parking-fee payment notices, not violation citations. Kaohsiung’s Transportation Bureau likewise said that staff wearing vests marked as private contractors issue notices for roadside parking fees under the user-pays system, and do not report violations or issue fines. The review explains that, under Article 7 of the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act, traffic police and legally designated traffic assistant personnel can carry out specified parking enforcement. For a vehicle parked in violation when its driver is absent, those personnel may issue a violation-parking notice placed on the vehicle, commonly called a white ticket. After confirming the violation and vehicle, the issuing unit sends a separate formal notice, commonly called a red ticket. The review says the roadside fee-ticketing workers are not the same as those authorized enforcement personnel. The distinction depends on the circumstances: when a driver remains in a vehicle that is temporarily stopped illegally, the review says only traffic police may issue a citation; traffic assistant personnel may advise the driver to move but cannot issue one. Thus, the claim incorrectly attributes citation authority to roadside parking fee staff, even though certain traffic personnel can issue parking-violation notices in specified circumstances.

DUBAWACrime & justice

A claim that Barr. Wahab Shittu lamented the withdrawal of the corruption charges against former Gombe State Governor, Danjuma Goje, by the Federal Government.

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a WhatsApp message attributed to Barrister Wahab Shittu, who the review identifies as lead counsel in the prosecution of former Gombe State Governor Danjuma Goje. The message allegedly lamented the withdrawal of the case by the Attorney General, describing it as a setback for the anti-corruption effort and saying that years of prosecution work had been wasted. The review’s account establishes that the circulated message made this claim about Shittu; it does not establish that the quoted words were his.

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

The accused molesting a Meerut girl in viral video is a Muslim.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review traces the viral post to footage of an incident involving a schoolgirl in Meerut. It says the post began circulating on 3 July 2019 and that the footage had been published by Aaj Tak. The post framed the girl as Hindu and alleged that Muslim “jihadis” had attacked her. The review’s central finding is that the reporting it checked did not establish that religious identity or motive: it says the claim that Muslim youths had molested the girl was not reported by the media it examined, and police had not confirmed it. To investigate, the review says it split the video into key frames and used an image to search Google News. It reports finding coverage of an assault on a ninth-grade schoolgirl in uniform, including a Times of India report dated 24 March 2019. As summarized in the review, the report said the video was filmed and circulated by the alleged attackers, and that police had taken up the case on their own after seeing the footage. The review also recounts a police statement in a Lallantop video: the main accused was identified as Gaurav Kumar, known as Goldi; he had been arrested and questioned, while the reason for the assault had not been established. The girl had not filed a police complaint, according to that account. These details support the review’s conclusion about the specific viral video: the sources it describes reported an assault and police action, but did not substantiate the post’s claim that the assailants were Muslim or that the attack was religiously motivated. The review also says it found no later media update resolving the motive. Its evidence therefore supports rejecting the post’s asserted religious framing; it does not establish a religious identity for the accused.