A CCTV footage of a girl being kidnapped in broad daylight has gone viral, amid Hathras outrage, as yet another case of crime against women in Uttar Pradesh.
The incident, however, actually took place in Karnataka when a girl was kidnapped for allegedly turning down a marriage proposal by the accused.
CLAIM
The CCTV footage is being shared with the claim,
“उत्तर प्रदेश में दिनदहाड़े बेटियों को उठाया जा रहा है अंधभक्त अभी भी आंखों पर पट्टी चढ़ाए हैं|”
(Translation: “In Uttar Pradesh, daughters are being kidnapped in broad daylight, blind devotees are still blindfolded.”)
The clip shared by Sujata Paul, who claims to be the ‘National Coordinator with Congress’ in her Facebook bio, had over 1,23,000 views and 7,600 shares, at the time of writing this article.
You can view an archived version here.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The incident actually took place in Kolar, Karnataka and not UP, as claimed.
A reverse image search of the keyframes of the video led us to an article by digital news platform, The News Minute, carrying the image.
The article, dated 14 August 2020, states that the kidnapping occurred in Kolar at around 11.30 am and was caught on CCTV.
The group of three men identified as Shivshankar, Balaji and Deepak, had abducted the girl because she had turned down Shivshankar’s marriage proposal.
The woman was successfully rescued by the police and reunited with her family.
"Around 10 am, we tracked the kidnappers after we chased them on foot. While the woman was rescued and is being brought back to Kolar, the kidnappers escaped," Kolar Superintendent of Police Karthik Reddy told TNM.
The incident was also reported by the Times of India, News18 Kannada and Mirror Now.
Evidently, an incident from Karnataka has been falsely shared as a case of kidnapping in Uttar Pradesh.
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