By Sachin Baghel
An image of a minor girl who was raped and killed in Uttar Pradesh's Shravasti district is viral on social media with a false claim that the assailant is a Rohingya Muslim who pretended to be a Hindu.
The tweets and Facebook posts identify the accused as one Muzaffar Ali and claim that he disguised himself as Sheel Kumar to stay in the village.
BOOM reached out to Shravasti Police who denied any communal angle to the incident and confirmed that the accused is a Hindu named Sheel Kumar Pathak.
Shubham Sharma, a journalist tweeted the image with the caption, "A Brahmin minor girl was kidnapped, raped and killed by a Rohingya who was living with a Hindu name in the village. Muzaffar Ali, allegedly a Rohingya, living in the village of Shravasti district of UP. The girl was brutally killed and raped by Muzaffar Ali alias Shil Kumar. No media reported this heinous crime." (sic.)
Sharma also shared the image of the accused and a news report on his portal Neo Politico.
Click here for an archive of the tweet.
Sharma also reported the incident on the news outlet Neo Politico with the same communal spin.
The claim is also circulating on Facebook with the same communal spin.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a related keyword search and found a news report by ABP News. Published on June 5, 2023, the article stated that the gruesome incident happened in Shravasti's Gilaula thana area in the village Rampur Paida.
The accused Sheel Kumar lured a 10 year old minor girl with a toffee and raped her. He then killed the minor by strangling her. The accused has since been arrested and charged under the POCSO Act; upon interrogation, Sheel Kumar admitted to his crime.
The same incident was also reported by Dainik Bhaskar and Hindustan on June 5, 2023, where the accused has been identified as Sheel Kumar. Nowhere does it mention that Sheel Kumar's original name is Muzaffar or that he is a Rohingya Muslim.
Additionally, BOOM also found a video report by Shravasti Post, a local news outlet corroborating the same.
BOOM also found a tweet by Shravasti Police where Superintendent of Police Prachi Singh confirms that the accused's name is Sheel Kumar and his father's name is Ramcharan.
We then reached out to Shravasti Police. Additional AP Praveen Kumar Yadav confirmed to BOOM that the accused is not a Rohingya Muslim. "The accused is a Hindu and his name is Sheel Kumar Pathak. His father's name is Ramcharan Pathak. The claim that he is a Muslim is false."
