This photo shows people arrested over an alleged prostitution racket in India, not child kidnappers
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 6, 2019 at 05:35
- 2 min read
- By AFP India
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The photo was published on Facebook here on July 24, 2019. It has been shared more than 5,700 times.
The post’s Hindi-language caption translates to English as: “In Jaora city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, a child-lifter gang of 25 people has been busted by the police. Send it to all the contacts in your phone and in all groups so that everyone remains cautious and no child is kidnapped.”
Jaora is a small town in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:
The photo was shared with a similar claim here on Facebook and here on Twitter.
The claim is false; the people pictured in the posts were part of a prostitution racket, according to media reports and local police.
A Google reverse image search found a corresponding photo published in this article published by local newspaper Mandsaur Sandesh on July 14, 2019.
The article's Hindi-language headline translates to English as: “Big success for Ratlam Police, raid in Bachra Dera led to police arrests 8 women and 15 men involved in sex racket.”
Below is a screenshot of the article:
The article's first paragraph states: “Today, under Dhodhar police station in Ratlam district, police personnel from Ringnod police station, Javar police station, police line Ratlam jointly conducted a major operation in Parvaliya Bannchara dera arresting eight women and 15 men involved in the flesh trade.”
A senior police official in Ratlam district Gaurav Tiwari told AFP by telephone on July 30, 2019 the arrested people were involved in prostitutions, not child-kidnapping.
“On July 14, 2019, the police arrested 23 people involved in sex racket, which include 9 women, where one is minor and 15 men. The claims of them being child-lifters is completely false.”
On their official Facebook page here on July 15, 2019, Ratlam Police also shared a screenshot of this local media report on police arresting people involved in the prostitution trade.
The arrests were also reported by other local media, for example here and here.
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