No, these photos do not show a Hindu woman in India after being attacked by a Muslim boy

The posts shared on Facebook and Twitter show photographs of a woman with deep gashes on her shoulders after an apparent attack.

An October 14 post on Facebook has a caption that says in Hindi: "Bihar's Gopalganj student Priyanka Kushwaha was attacked by a Muslim boy who wanted to kill her. This is the work of a coward Muslim". An archived version of the Facebook post can be seen here, however it contains graphic images of the injuries.

A similar photo was posted on Twitter on 13 October with a caption saying: “Gopalganj student Priyanka Kushwaha was attacked by a Muslim boy who wanted to kill her. Where are the people who call Islam a peaceful religion? Where are the secular animals? These incidents happens because of seculars.”

The post has been retweeted more than 1,600 times.

District police chief Rashid Zaman told AFP his officers had taken the photographs of the woman while she was receiving treatment at a government hospital. They appeared online in local media reports on the incident on October 11.

Here is one of the local news reports. The news site has since removed the graphic images but the report refers to the alleged victim by name.

Here is the written complaint of the alleged victim filed at a local police station, which AFP downloaded from the Bihar state crime records bureau website. 

The complaint by the woman, in part, states: “Sandip Giri, 23, started harassing me while I was returning back from the temple. Upon resisting the bid, he attacked me with a knife leaving deep gashes on both the shoulders.” 

Giri is a Hindu name in India. It belongs to a Brahmin caste. Here is an Indian government page listing Giri as a caste.

Zaman, the local police chief, also told AFP the accused was not Muslim.

“The attacker has been arrested and his name is Sandip Giri, he is a Hindu. There is no Hindu-Muslim angle involved in this case,” Zaman said in a phone interview.