Fact check: BJP leader falsely shown as father of accused in Hathras rape

Several users on social media shared photographs of a man with prominent politicians including PM Modi. They identified him as a father of Sandeep, one of the accused in an alleged gang rape of 19-year-old Dalit woman at Hathras in UP.

"Sandeep, who has been accused of violating Hathras daughter, his father's few memorable moments. The pictures say everything," read the English translation of Hindi message

Archive of the post can be accessed here.

The claim has become viral on Facebook and Twitter.

Archive of the post can be accessed here.

Fact check:

The person in these photographs is not the father of Sandeep, one of the accused in the Hathras incident. He is Dr. Shyam Prakash Dwivedi, BJP leader from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.

Newsmeter performed a reverse image search of the viral photograph of the man with PM Modi and came across an article by Bolta Hindustan. The article featured the same photograph and identified the person as Dr. Shyam Prakash Dwivedi, vice president of Yuva Morcha of Bharatiya Janata Party, Kashi province. The news report published on 16 Sep 2020 stated that he had been accused of a raping a BA girl student from Prayagraj.

News report by DNA on the same incident reads: "Prayagraj Police registered a case against a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and a doctor accused of raping a BA girl student in Prayagraj. He is currently the regional vice president of the BJP Yuva Morcha's Kashi. He also has several photos on social media with PM Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, and other known party leaders."

Newsmeter also tried to crosscheck the name of Sandeep's father. Relevant keyword search has resulted in a report by India Today, which has mentioned the name of Sandeep's father as Narendra.

So the person in the viral photographs is no way related to the Hathras incident, and he is facing rape allegations in a different incident.

A 19-year old Dalit woman was allegedly gang-raped and assaulted by four men in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh on 14 Sep 2020. Battling for life for almost two weeks, she died on 29 Sep in a hospital in Delhi. The tragic incident has sparked national outrage. All the four accused in the incident have been arrested so far.

Fact check. BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh has passed off as the father of one of the accused in Hathras tragedy.