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| - Fact Check: Misleading claims over woman's body found in paddy field in Bengal
An image of a woman's body lying in a paddy field is going viral on the Internet with the claim that she was raped and murdered in Bengal's West Midnapore district. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading.
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India Today Fact Check
The woman was murdered by her husband over personal issues. He was arrested.
At a time there is widespread outrage over the Hathras incident, an image of a woman's body lying in a paddy field is going viral on the Internet with the claim that she was raped and murdered in Bengal's West Midnapore district, but the incident did not receive attention as it took place in a non-BJP state.
Giving out the details of the woman, the image caption says, "But of course, this happened in a non BJP ruled state. Hence, she is neither Bharat ki beti, nor is this rape a major incident."
"And all those Bengali Bhadroloks and Bhadromohilas, who were posting long paragraphs on how insecure women are in this country, how they are destined to suffer and die here, have suddenly consumed fevicol. They can look at distant UP but not the plight of women in their own backyard. Shame on these hypocrites, political vultures and attention seekers," the post further said.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. The woman was killed by her husband, who later confessed to the crime and was arrested by police.
The archived versions can be seen here and here.
AFWA probe
With the help of reverse image search and appropriate keywords in Bengali, we found news reports that confirmed there was no rape associated with the incident.
According to a report by The Times Group's Bengali daily, Ei Samay, 35-year-old housewife Pratima Mallick was killed in the wee hours of October 1 at Ghatal in Bengal's West Midnapore district.
As per the report, the deceased's husband was arrested in connection with the murder. There was no mention of rape in the report.
We also found two video reports on the incident in Bengali by Asianet News and Sthaniya Sambad (). Neither of the reports mentions rape.
According to "Asianet News", the woman's family also claimed that her husband had killed her. The deceased's sister said for a long time there were problems between Pratima and her husband Nepal, and he used to beat her severely.
For more clarity, AFWA reached out to Dinesh Kumar, Superintendent of Police of West Midnapore district. He confirmed that the woman was not raped, but strangled to death by her husband.
"The claim that the Ghatal woman was raped is false. The woman's husband confessed to the crime and we have arrested him under charges of murder. The couple was going through personnel issues over the years, and the husband killed her by strangulation in a field near their house," the SP told AFWA.
Hence, it is clear that the woman in the viral image was not raped, but murdered by her husband over personal issues.
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