On Tuesday (September 29) , a 19-year-old girl from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh died in Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, two weeks after being allegedly gangraped and tortured. The brutal assault was reportedly carried out by four men on September 14 when the girl went to collect animal fodder from the fields.
As social media is outraged, and netizens are seeking justice for the victim, a picture of a young girl is also going viral with the claim that this was the Hathras victim. It has been found that the viral picture is of some other girl and is not related to the incident at all.
As the family of the victim was contacted and were sent the viral pictures, the girl's brother replied that the picture is not of his sister. Other family members also confirmed that the girl seen standing in a sugarcane field in the picture is not known to them.
As reported by India Today , on comparing the original pictures of the Hathras victim to the girl in the viral picture, they found that they are completely different.
The girl whose picture is being shared as the Hathras victim is Manisha Yadav. She had died on July 22, 2018, due to illness (she had stone disease) while being treated at a Chandigarh hospital. She was from Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh, and as per her brother Ajay, the viral picture was taken at their native village.
Ajay told IndiaToday that his sister was married in Chandigarh and shed lost her life due to negligence during treatment. The family wanted to file a complaint against the hospital but police were not registering an FIR. Due to this, Ajay and his friends had run the Justice for Manisha campaign on social media.Manishas father told- He is very sad that he is being slandered even after his daughters death. These facts were checked by India Today.
Advocate Anil Gogna said that it is a punishable offense to make public any information about the rape victim. Those doing so can be prosecuted under section 228 (a) of the IPC. Under this section, there is a provision of punishment and fine of up to two years for the culprits. Police will be demanded to investigate the matter.
