Skip to main content

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

YouturnCrime & justice

ஆசிபாவை பற்றி செய்தி வெளியிட்ட தமிழக ஊடகங்கள் ஏன் இதைப் பற்றி எந்த செய்தியையும் வெளியிடவில்லை ? இந்த சிறுமியின் வயது 3. பெயர் ட்விங்கிள். உத்தரப்பிரதேசம் அலிகாரில், ஜாகித் என்பவனால் கற்பழித்து, கண்களில் ஆசிட் ஊற்றி, கை கால்கள் சிதைத்து கொலை செய்யப்பட்டாள்.

Publisher’s rating: Mix

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: Aligarh girl raped killed and eyes goughed out

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a social-media post about the killing of a girl in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. The post alleged that she had been raped, that acid was poured into her eyes and that her eyes were gouged out; it also suggested Tamil media had not reported the case. The review distinguishes the killing itself from those additional allegations, describing them as rumors and citing the Aligarh police chief’s account of the post-mortem findings.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Muslim Taxi Driver in Meerut murdered 250 Non-Muslims in last four months.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that a Muslim taxi or cab driver in Meerut had murdered 250 non-Muslims over four months. FACTLY found that the incident being invoked was from 2007, not a recent event. It also said the available information did not conclusively establish either a motive for the murders or the victims’ identities, so the religious framing was not established by the evidence described in the review. To check the viral account, FACTLY searched for “Meerut 250 murders” and compared the material it found. It reported that a Hindu Existence article published on 2 June 2019 had copied a News18 article published on 30 March 2007, while altering it to add a religious angle. The review also noted a material discrepancy in those accounts: the Hindu Existence and News18 articles described one person as responsible, whereas a Times of India article said a gang of 35 members was suspected. FACTLY then contacted the office of Dipesh Juneja, who was Meerut’s Senior Superintendent of Police in 2007 and had been quoted in the news coverage. According to the review, the office clarified that a gang carried out the murders in 2007 and that the case had no religious angle. Thus, the review’s evidence supports the event’s older date and challenges the post’s attribution of the killings to a Muslim driver and a religious motive.

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: Smriti Irani murdered her own aide

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigates a social-media allegation that Smriti Irani was behind the killing of her aide. It identifies the aide as Surender Singh, who had worked for Irani in Amethi, and reports that he was shot dead a few days after the election vote count. The post implied that Irani had killed him and circulated a photograph of her carrying his body, alongside a story alleging a motive connected to electronic voting machines. The review traces the allegation to a satirical website, rather than to evidence establishing Irani’s involvement. [S1]

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: 3 Girls Raped and murdered in Chennai SRM University

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that three women studying at SRM University near Chennai had been raped and murdered, and paired that allegation with a photograph of three dead women. The review says the post also accused journalists of concealing the deaths and linked it to other SRM-related deaths. It describes the post as having been shared on Facebook on May 31, 2019: “எஸ்.ஆர்.எம் கல்லூரி 3 பெண்கள் கற்பழித்து கொலை.” To examine the image, the review says it uploaded the photograph to Google reverse image search. That search led to reporting about a different incident near Nellai, in January 2018, in which a family died by suicide after a woman was abandoned by her boyfriend while pregnant. The review therefore identifies the picture as unrelated to SRM University: “வேறு ஒரு சம்பவத்தின் புகைப்படத்தை எடுத்து, எஸ்.ஆர்.எம் கல்லூரியில் மூன்று பெண்கள் பாலியல் வன்கொடுமை செய்யப்பட்டு கொலை செய்ததாக விஷமத்தனமாக பதிவிடப்பட்டுள்ளது.” The article also distinguishes the viral allegation from deaths it says were reported at SRM around the same time: one female student from Tiruvallur district died by suicide on May 26, and a first-year male student from Jharkhand died the next day. It reports that police registered a case and were investigating. A person reached at the Maraimalai Nagar police station rejected the claim that three female students had died, saying one female student and one male student had died by suicide. On the evidence described, the post’s image and its allegation of three raped and murdered SRM students do not match the reported events.

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: Pratap sarangi burnt Graham Staines family Alive

Publisher’s rating: MIXTURE

The review investigates a social-media post accusing Pratap Sarangi of burning Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons alive. It places the murders in Odisha in 1999 and identifies the victims as Staines and his sons, Philip, aged 11, and Timothy, aged 8. The post presented Sarangi’s later role as a Union minister alongside images of the family and their burned vehicle, and described him as responsible for their deaths. The review distinguishes Sarangi’s position at the time from direct participation in the murders. It says he was the state president of the Bajrang Dal when the killings occurred. It reports that Tara Singh and 12 others were charged, that Singh received a death sentence later commuted to life imprisonment, and that the other defendants received life sentences. The review also notes allegations that the investigation failed to examine a broader conspiracy, but says Sarangi was not charged in the Staines murder case and that no evidence established his direct involvement. The review further reports that Sarangi denied the allegations, and that police did not register a case against him in connection with the murders, saying there was no basis to do so. It mentions his arrest over a separate 2001 attack on the Odisha legislature and seven pending criminal cases, while emphasizing that he had not been convicted in any case. Its conclusion is that association with the Bajrang Dal leadership and unproven accusations do not establish that Sarangi personally carried out the killings.