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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: Premalatha speech on sexual harassment

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: True

The fact-check examined a social-media graphic attributed to Sathiyam TV claiming that Premalatha Vijayakanth said voters should support the AIADMK alliance even if sexual assaults occurred. It notes that the claim circulated amid public attention to sexual violence in Pollachi. The investigation checked Sathiyam TV’s Facebook posts from the seventh, finding a related image, but says that post did not identify where or when she had spoken. It then searched for further reporting and video evidence. The decisive material was a video published by Puthiya Thalaimurai, showing Vijayakanth campaigning in the Mayiladuthurai parliamentary constituency. The review says the disputed remarks occur from 4:27 to 5:02 in the video. In that passage, she says that sexual assaults may occur and asks listeners to support “this alliance,” while also saying it would protect women. The review describes this as evidence that the underlying speech was real, but the recorded wording refers to the alliance, not simply to voting for the AIADMK as the graphic’s wording suggests. The fact-check also compared other news accounts. It reports that Dinamani and Hindu Tamil had covered the remarks, but that those reports did not supply the place and time of the speech; the video provided the review’s more specific identification. Its conclusion is that Vijayakanth made the remarks and asked for votes for the alliance, while the surrounding promise of women’s protection is important context omitted from the viral framing.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Hyderabad Police seized Rs 8 crore cash withdrawn from BJP’s bank account.

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

The claim concerns a Facebook post saying that Hyderabad police seized Rs 8 crore withdrawn from the BJP’s bank account. FACTLY reports that it checked the post by contacting Telangana Police Authorities by telephone. Those authorities confirmed that they seized the cash and handed it to the Income Tax department because the amount exceeded Rs 10 lakh. The review says police described their own inquiry as preliminary. They could not comment on whether the money’s source was legitimate, and said the Income Tax department would examine that question. Thus, the reported confirmation supports the seizure and transfer of the cash, but does not establish its ultimate source or whether it was lawfully obtained. The review also gives the stated procedural reason for the transfer: an Election Commission of India procedure for seizure and release of cash and other items says amounts above Rs 10 lakh are to be transferred to the Income Tax department for further inquiry. The evidence presented therefore addresses the claim of a police seizure, while distinguishing that fact from the unresolved inquiry into the money’s legitimacy.

FACTLYCrime & justice

జగిత్యాలలోని హాబ్సీ పూర్ గ్రామంలో తెరాస పార్టీ వారు ఏర్పాటు చేసిన భోజనాన్ని ఒక దళిత కార్యకర్త తిన్నందుకు గాను అదే పార్టీకి చెందిన అగ్రకుల కార్యకర్తలు అతని పై దాడి చేసి కొట్టారు

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYCrime & justice

జగిత్యాలలోని హాబ్సీ పూర్ గ్రామంలో తెరాస పార్టీ వారు ఏర్పాటు చేసిన భోజనాన్ని ఒక దళిత కార్యకర్త తిన్నందుకు గాను అదే పార్టీకి చెందిన అగ్రకుల కార్యకర్తలు అతని పై దాడి చేసి కొట్టారు

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYCrime & justice

Nirav Modi stated before the London court that he didn’t leave India but was threatened by the leaders of a political party to escape and run away from the country.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns purported statements by Nirav Modi in London court proceedings: that he had not left India voluntarily, but had been threatened by political-party leaders to escape the country. FACTLY says the allegation circulated in Facebook posts during India’s election period, amid rival political accusations about Modi’s flight from India. The review’s conclusion is that the attributed statement was not made in court. To check the claim, FACTLY says it reviewed coverage of the London proceedings by leading Indian newspapers and specifically refers to a Times of India article covering the hearing. It reports that the article contained no mention of Modi saying that threats by Indian political leaders caused him to flee. The review places the court hearings on 21 and 29 March 2019, and says Modi was questioned only at the 21 March hearing. The evidence described in the excerpt is the absence of the alleged statement from the newspaper’s account of the hearing; the excerpt does not provide the Times of India article itself or a court transcript. FACTLY also notes that a separate version of the circulating allegation had accused Congress leaders of being bribed, while another earlier version questioned BJP involvement. Those are described as variants of the political claims, not as evidence that Modi made the statement attributed to him.

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: BJP goons attacked a women in West Bengal

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerned a viral video said to show BJP supporters attacking women in West Bengal after they refused to vote for the BJP. Fact Crescendo’s review says it examined that circulating video and found it was real footage, but that the viral caption reversed who was attacking whom. The review identifies the woman being beaten, along with the other people attacked, as BJP supporters, and says the attackers were Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers. It also notes that the video itself described the BJP supporters as the people being attacked and TMC workers as the attackers. (S1) The review traces the footage to a BJP-called bandh on 26 September 2018 in Pirgacha, Barasat, in North 24 Parganas district. It says a clash broke out between BJP supporters and TMC workers after the TMC workers threatened them to withdraw the bandh. Thus, although the video showed a woman being beaten, the review says it did not show BJP supporters attacking her, as the claim alleged. It also says the incident was unrelated to the then-current parliamentary election. (S1) For its checks, the review says it examined the video’s contents, used a frame from the footage for a Yandex reverse-image search, and found additional news reports about the incident. It also points to a contemporaneous Twitter post describing TMC workers kicking and beating a bandh-supporting woman in Pirgacha and threatening supporters to withdraw the bandh. The review’s conclusion rests on the identification of the event and the direction of the violence, not on denying that the beating occurred. (S1)

YouturnCrime & justice

மாடம்பாக்கம் சுதர்சன் நகரில் புகைப்படத்தில் இருக்கும் பெண் ஒரு வீட்டில் சென்று பெல் அடிக்கிறார், வீட்டில் உள்ளர்வர்களிடம் பேசிய பின்பு அந்த வீடு சரிபார்க்கப்பட்டது என்பதற்காக SAW என்ற குறியீட்டை வீட்டு சுவரில் எழுதி விட்டு செல்கிறார். அங்குள்ள பெண்கள் அவரை பிடித்து எனக்கு தெரிந்தவர் ஒருவரிடம் இருந்து வந்த தகவலையடுத்து சேலையூர் காவல் நிலையத்தில் புகார் அளித்தோம். அதன்பின்னரே, அந்த பெண்ணின் மீது நிலாங்கரையில் திருட்டு வழக்குகள் இருப்பதாக தெரியவந்தது. தனியாக இருக்கும் பெண்கள் பாதுகாப்பாக இருக்கவும் இதுபோன்று மார்க் செய்து இருந்தால் காவல் துறையிடம் புகார் அளிக்கவும் என பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டு இருக்கும் வாட்ஸ் ஆஃப் ஃபார்வடு செய்தி.

Publisher’s rating: Fake