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| - A week into the alleged rape and murder of a doctor (a postgraduate trainee) at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, several theories have surfaced in public discourse about the circumstances in which she was killed. The claim that about 150 grams of semen was found in the victim’s body has gone viral on social media and messaging apps such as WhatsApp. Some media outlets also reported it.
In an interview with Barkha Dutt on Mojo Story published on August 16, a physician named Subarna Goswami claimed that 150 grams of white liquid that appeared to be semen was found in the body during post-mortem (PM) examination.
Around the 23-minute mark in the interview, Dutt asks Goswami if there could be more than one perpetrator. The doctor claims that the victim’s parents had shared the original post-mortem report with him. After talking about the various injuries mentioned in it, he adds, “They also collected white thick viscid fluid from deep inside the vagina which weighing 151 grams.. 151 grams. and even if it is mixed with some other body fluid like vaginal discharge or you know maybe mucus or some other tissues, but this much amount of semen.. it appears to be semen.. it is to be proved in the forensic lab only.. but this white thick viscid fluid appears to semen as penetration was there… it is clearly written hymen was ruptured at 10 o’clock position… and penetration was there. So it must be semen, nothing other than semen. So this much amount of semen.. it cannot come out from a single rapist. There is every possibility of the involvement of multiple rapists…” (sic)
Goswami is the additional general secretary of the All India Federation of Govt Doctors’ Association. The video has 44,000 views on YouTube. The remarks made by Goswami were carried by multiple media outlets, including the New York Times, India Today, Business Today, The Times of India, and Firstpost among others.
The claim was also made by the victim’s lawyer in the petition filed in the court. The concerned point in the petition reads, “The presence of 150 mg of semen in the hymen, a quantity suggesting involvement of more than one individual, further corroborated the suspicion of gang rape.”
The lawyer representing the family, senior CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya asserted in a video interview that the PM report said 150mg white liquid was found in the body. He adds that he never made the assertion that the liquid was semen.
The claim is viral on X (formerly Twitter). Here are some of the tweets which make the claim that 150 grams of semen was found in the victim’s body:
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The claim is viral on Facebook as well. Here are some of the posts that mention it:
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On Instagram, a template that was shared as ‘story’ over 3.4 million times made the same claim.
Fact Check
Alt News was able to access the post-mortem report of the victim through police sources.
The report consists of multiple rows corresponding to different sections of the body namely thorax, abdomen, cranium and spinal canal, and more. Each row, again, has multiple columns for different organs and parts such as brain, stomach, lung, kidney, and spleen. In many of these cells, the weight of the corresponding organ is stated using the abbreviation ‘Wt’. For eg, the weight of the heart is stated as “Wt- 212gm”, and the weight of the spleen is stated as “Wt- 90gm”.
In a cell titled ‘External and Internal Genitalia’, it is stated, “As noted. White thick viscid liquid present inside endocervical canal, which is collected as noted above. Wt-151gm.”
It would seem that those who initially claimed 150 grams of semen probably misconstrued the above sentence as suggesting that the weight of the thick liquid was 150 grams. However, the weight specified here is that of the ‘External and Internal genitalia’.
Alt News spoke with a forensic expert who on condition of anonymity told us, “Usually seminal liquid is measured in ml (volume), not gm (weight). The PM Report has weights of other organs in grams including the heart, liver, kidney, spleen etc. 151 grams is the collective weight of the internal and external genitalia. Nowhere in the report does it mention that 150mg of semen was recovered as claimed”.
The Kolkata police also termed this claim to be false in a press briefing.
#WATCH | Kolkata: West Bengal Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal says, “Far too many rumours are floating which have no basis, and based on them, a lot of so-called experts are creating narratives…The case has now gone to the CBI and let’s have faith in the agency. In the… pic.twitter.com/vMIfh0B3SR
— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2024
TMC MP Mahua Moitra in a video posted her X (formerly Twitter) account, also stated that, “This was the total weight of the internal viscera or the reproductive organs, it has got nothing to do with the bodily fluids found.”
Urging media to be responsible while reporting. Genuine concerns need to be addressed. Fake news needs to be busted. @MamataOfficial pic.twitter.com/nljhAbDMkk
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) August 16, 2024
Therefore, those on the victim’s side who floated this claim seemingly misread the post-mortem, and then this rumour gained a life of its own on social media leading to further theories of gang rape. The possibility of more than one accused cannot be ruled out, and the CBI is investigating this case. However, the claim that 150 grams of semen was found in the victim’s body is false, according to the post-mortem report.
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