On April 30, propaganda website Alt News’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair published a tweet debunking an Asianet report that five men were arrested in Jodhpur for allegedly raping a half-burnt dead body. In his tweet, he added two screenshots. The first screenshot was of Asianetnews Hindi with a ‘cross’ on it insinuating that it was a false report, and the second screenshot was of Sikar Police, where they debunked the reports.
Zubair stopped there, and unlike Alt News’ other fact-checks, no comprehensive fact-check was done in this particular matter.
If compared to the fact-check Alt News published about padlocks and grills being placed on graves in Pakistan, it was evident that Zubair and Alt News decided to remain biased while debunking fake news. In the case of Pakistani graves, Alt News published a detailed report, targeting media houses that reported the matter, essentially discrediting rampant cases of necrophilia reported in Pakistan and giving a clean chit to Islamists who indulge in perverse behaviour of raping dead bodies.
It is unclear why Alt News decided to skip debunking the reports that five men raped a half-cremated body in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. It is worth mentioning, however, that the fake reports of ‘rape with a dead body’ in Jodhpur were shared by several left-leaning propagandists, including Ashok Swain, Sadaf Afreen, Asif Khan, and others, most of whom are supporters of Alt News, and often share its propaganda articles.
Fake news peddlers claimed Hindus raped half-cremated body
On May 1, OpIndia debunked the fake reports related to the matter. During our investigation, we found that several fake news peddlers, alleged journalists and media houses claimed five people were arrested by the police in Sikar, Rajasthan, for raping a half-cremated dead body of a woman.
Fake news peddlers shared the report, including Muslim journalist Meer Faisal, Ashok Swain, Sadaf Afreen, Md Asif Khan, and many others. Some of them were deleted after the police debunked them, but many kept the fake tweets as it was. For example, Twitter user Mohammed Sher Ali has not deleted the fake tweet yet.
Sikar police categorically refuted the claims of raping the dead body. On May 1, tagging Asianet News, Sikar Police wrote, “The said incident is false and misleading. Three days after the cremation of the dead body, the villagers thrashed an outsider on suspicion. The man came to meet his acquaintance. Legal action has been taken by the police at Ajitgarh Police Station. Asianet has now deleted the report and tweet.
How Alt News conducts selective fact-checking and brushes aside contentious issues
While Alt News bills itself as an impartial ‘fact checking’ portal, the content on the leftist propaganda website indicates it is anything but. In fact, selective fact-checking and peddling propaganda is the forte of Alt News and, in particular, its founders, Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha, both of whom have been biased in their take on busting fake news. Zubair, who dog whistled Islamists against Nupur Sharma by sharing an incomplete video of her remarks on Times Now, had studiously avoided fact-checking the statements made by the former BJP leader on Prophet Muhammad. Similarly, Sinha, too, has been silent on the grave MeToo allegations against him.