A disturbing video showing a girl being molested by a group of men in Andhra Pradesh has resurfaced online with a false communal claim that it depicts a Hindu man attempting to rape a Christian Kuki girl in Manipur.
BOOM found that the incident occurred in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh, in August 2017, when a girl was molested by her ex-boyfriend and his accomplices after she ended their relationship. BOOM had earlier fact checked the video in 2020 when it went viral as Kerala.
According to reports at least six people have lost their lives in Manipur's Jiribam district due to recent outbreak of violence in the northeastern state. According to the report, the violence compelled the state government to deploy military helicopters for surveillance and additional security forces with drone-detection systems to find out the attackers. Amid this, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh met Governor L Acharya on September 7, 2024, after an emergency meeting of ruling coalition MLAs and ministers at the CM Secretariat, news agency PTI reported.
In the 59-second video, the girl can be seen begging, screaming, and struggling to escape as a man attempts to disrobe and assault her. In desperation, she clings to another girl, who makes weak efforts to intervene.
Trigger Warning: The video contains visuals of sexual assault. Discretion is advised.
An X user shared the video and wrote, "Manipur Violence in India a Hindu is trying to rape a university student in the Bush. The girl is from a Christian minority called the kukis. This all happens under the supervision of the state government. But the government refrains to take action against such rapists."
Click here to view an archive of the post.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on a keyframe from the viral video and found a report published by News18 on September 26, 2017, which included a screenshot from the same video.
The report stated that the incident took place in August 2017 in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh, but it came into the limelight in September that year when it went viral on social media.
The article reported that the Andhra Pradesh police apprehended the molesters after reaching out to the girl and her family.
A report from The News Minute identified the perpetrators as Sai, Karthik, and Pawan, and noted that the police arrested them on September 27, 2017. The report also mentioned that the incident occurred when Sai, the main accused, planned to gang-rape the girl at an abandoned location in Kanigiri town, Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh, as an act of revenge after she ended their relationship.
Following the incident, Nannapaneni Rajakumari, the then Chairperson of the Andhra Pradesh Women’s Commission, met with the girl and announced that the government would cover her education expenses and arrange for her relocation to either Ongole or Guntur, according to the report.
TV9 Telugu also published a video report on September 26, 2017, covering the same details about the video. It can be watched below.