AltNews debunks viral image claiming Pakistani parents lock daughters' graves to prevent rape
New Delhi: An image of a padlocked grave has been circulating on social media with a false claim that parents in Pakistan are locking their daughters' graves to prevent rape. The image has been used by several major news media outlets, including The Times of India, NDTV, TV9, and News18, in their reports on rising cases of necrophilia in Pakistan.
Other media outlets including Mirror Now, ThePrint, India Today, Wion, IndiaTV, Times Now, DNA India, OpIndia Hindi, News24, ABP News, Amar Ujala, News18, Firstpost and Jagran used the same image in their respective reports. Most of these stories were from the syndicated feed of ANI.
Harris Sultan, who is the author of the book ‘The Curse of God – Why I Left Islam’, tweeted the same image and claimed that it was clicked in Pakistan which had a “horny, sexually frustrated society”. He added, “…..When you link the burqa with rape, it follows you to the grave”. A number of the news media outlets mentioned above have used Harris’ tweet in their reports.
However, a fact-check report by Alt News has found that the image is actually from a cemetery in Hyderabad, India. The cemetery is located opposite Masjid E Salar Mulk in Darab Jung Colony, Madannapet, Hyderabad. Alt News contacted a social worker named Abdul Jaleel, who visited the spot and provided photographs of the grave in question. A comparison of these images with the viral image establishes that they depict the same grave.
According to Muqtar Sahab, the Muazzin of the Masjid E Salar Mulk, the padlocked grave was constructed without the permission of the concerned committee and is located right in front of the entrance, blocking the pathway. The grille or jaali was constructed to prevent people from burying bodies without permission and to prevent others from stamping on the grave since it was right in front of the entrance. The grave belonged to an aged woman who had passed away in her seventies, and her son constructed the grille over the grave about 40 days after she had been buried.
Alt News' fact-check report concludes that the padlock had nothing to do with necrophilia or Pakistan and that the image has been circulating with false claims. The report also notes that several major news media outlets used the image in their reports without verifying the claim.
Pakistani parents lock daughters' graves to avoid rape
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) April 29, 2023
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/2vbtYavyj5#Pakistan #necrophiliacases #sexualharassment #crime pic.twitter.com/1AndHMUXlZ
Pakistani parents lock daughters' graves to avoid rape https://t.co/YarziUwwWI
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) April 29, 2023
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Labourer dies of suffocation while cleaning 35-foot-deep well in Brahmavar; one other worker rescued
Udupi: Brahmavar Police have filed a case and are investigating into the death of a worker while cleaning an open well at Devadigara Bettu, behind the Mahalingeshwara Temple on Wednesday evening.
Two men were working at clearing the slush inside the 35-foot-deep well using bleaching powder, when one of the workers, 34-year-old Durgesh, developed breathing problems for want of oxygen and died of asphyxiation.
The local fire brigade staff members rescued the second worker, 50-year-old Adiveppa Kuri from the well. Both the workers, Kuri and Durgesh, were reportedly natives of Koppal district and were currently living in Salikere of Brahmavar taluk.
