The Nirbhaya gang rape case that took place in Delhi in 2012 shook the conscience of the nation. The brutal rape and murder of 23-year-old Nirbhaya saw an outpouring of anger. Six people were arrested in the case, and five of them convicted. One among the accused was a juvenile, sparking controversy over the verdict that stated he be sent to a correctional home for three years on account of being a minor.
Now, social media is replete with news of this juvenile having ‘vanished from Delhi’.
The message that is circulating on WhatsApp says, “Mohammed Afroz the 5th accused in the infamous Nirbhaya rape and murder case, and the most cruel and perverted one (the one who inserted a steel rod into the victim), who escaped death sentence being a juvenile then. Now he is out of juvenile home stay and now he is reported to have vanished from Delhi to south India. He may be working in some hotels or anywhere and nobody may recognise him. So kindly keep sharing this message and photo. Let him never be able to work or stay anywhere and may such heinous acts not be repeated.”
According to the message, the juvenile whose name is supposedly Mohammed Afroz has ‘vanished from Delhi and fled to South India, where he may be working at some hotel.’
The message is being shared along with what is claimed to be a photograph of the said juvenile convict. Apart from WhatsApp, the message is also circulating on Twitter since June 2017.
Facebook, too, has been flooded with this message about the juvenile convict. A number of pages and individuals have shared it widely.
According to a fact-check by Alt News on the claim and found that this photograph which is circulating as the face of the juvenile conflict has been taken from a Twitter account @anehabeti. This account was created in 2010. There are only two tweets from this account so far. The last tweet was on 6 September 2013.
The accused in the case were arrested immediately after the crime in December 2012, and the juvenile accused was sentenced for three years to a reform facility in August 2013 and was released in December 2015. For him to have tweeted in September 2013 from a correctional facility, therefore, is unlikely.
This lends basis to the fact that the Twitter account @anehabheti nor the profile image in the @anehabheti Twitter account represents the accused.
Additionally, the name of the juvenile has not been officially revealed in a public forum and has been kept confidential since the law necessitates that a juvenile’s identity is not to be disclosed. The name thus floating on social media is mere speculation, and the message weaved around it has been brought to the attention of the police.
The speculation over the juvenile supposedly disappearing from Delhi and working in South India in some hotel may be traced to reports that emerged in May 2017 about how the juvenile convict in the Nirbhaya case was living incognito, possibly in southern India and working at a roadside eatery.
He is being looked after by an NGO. This report was carried by leading publications like Indian Express, India Today and Deccan Chronicle.
(The story first appeared on Alt News and has been republished with permission.)
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