Did Arvind Kejriwal say this about punishing rapists?
Several social media users and Aam Admi Party (AAP) members, including AAP MLA Naresh Balyan, have shared a video clip of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming that it shows the CM’s stand on punishing rapists.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 22 Oct 2022 1:01 PM GMT
Hyderabad: Several social media users and Aam Admi Party (AAP) members, including AAP MLA Naresh Balyan, have shared a video clip of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming that it shows the CM's stand on punishing rapists.
The claim comes as the BJP-led Central government and Gujarat government have been criticised by the Opposition over the release of 11 convicted men who were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano case. However, Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders have maintained a stoic silence and have been asked for their views.
Naresh Balyan shared the video clip and wrote, "The stand of Arvind Kejriwal against the rape is very clear…" (Archive)
Click here to see the posts.
Similar claims have been made by others who shared the video. (Click here and here to view more posts.)
Fact Check
NewsMeter noticed that Arvind Kejriwal is talking about imprisoning and taking harsh action against rioters, not rapists, in the viral clip. Taking this as a cue, we performed a reverse image search of the video's keyframe along with keywords and found a longer version of the video in a report published by the ABP on 27 February 2022.
The report says Mr. Kejriwal was responding to allegations of the involvement of his party leader Tahir Hussain in the violence in northeast Delhi over protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
NDTV had also reported the same on 28 February 2020.
Further, we found a 1.10-minute video on the official Facebook page of AAP from 27 February 2020. The video is titled "AAP has a clear stand on rioters — anyone involved in rioting from any party should be given harsh punishment and if anyone from our party is involved, they should be given double punishment." (Translated)
The viral clip appears at the 0.35-minute mark.
It is evident that Arvind Kejriwal is making a statement on allegations of the involvement of his party leader in a riot. Hence, the claim is false.
