Fact check: Viral picture of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi laughing was clicked last year, not during Hathras visit.

Hyderabad: A picture of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi is viral on social media with the claim that both were cracking jokes and laughing on their way to meet the family of Hayhras victim.

Several Facebook users posted the image with a caption: "Opposition leaders going to Hathras with immense sadness on their faces." (archived post)

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1666392106909853/permalink/2864211873794531/

ABVP member Anima Sonkar also posted the picture and sarcastically wrote: "Here is the Leader of Opposition going to Hathras, extreme grief is clearly visible on their faces."

Sonkar, however, took down her tweet later. (archived tweet)

FACT CHECK:

Newsmeter performed a reverse image search and found this picture in a news report by 'Zee News' from December 2019. In another article, this picture was also attached by 'India Head News'. This proves that the image is not recent and is not linked to the Hathras rape case.

Further search led to a tweet by 'UP East Youth Congress' which was posted on 27th April 2019. "Some moments of brother and sister from a busy schedule. Love, affection all in one photo," he said.

It was even shared by the Congress Twitter account on the same day.

On the same day 'The Indian Express' wrote an article on Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi meeting at Kanpur airport while they were in the middle of their scheduled public rallies. Rahul also shared a video on his Facebook profile and wrote: "Was nice meeting Priyanka at Kanpur Airport!"

https://m.facebook.com/rahulgandhi/videos/602110396936687/?locale2=en_US

This viral image was taken when both of them bumped into each other at Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur airport in 2019. Evidently, the claim is false.