Fact Check: Indian arrested in Japan for molesting girl? No, image shows Pakistani national Afzal Muhammad
An image of a man named Pramod Rathore has gone viral with the claim that he was arrested in Japan for molesting a girl on a train.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 22 Jan 2025 6:12 PM IST
Claim: The image shows Pramod Rathore from Haryana arrested in Japan for molesting a girl.
Fact: The claim is false. The image shows a Pakistani national named Afzal Muhammad arrested in Japan for the crime.
(Warning: This article contains sensitive content that some readers may find disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.)
Hyderabad: An image of a man reportedly in police custody has been circulating on social media with the claim that a person named Pramod Rathore of Haryana was arrested in Japan for molesting a Japanese girl.
An X account, Crime Reports India, currently blocked in India, shared the image of a man with the caption, āPramod Rathore of Haryana arrested in Japan more molesting Japanese Girl.ā The account has frequently indulged in peddling misinformation related to India.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
A similar claim can be accessed here. (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the accused in the image is from Pakistan.
Through a reverse image search, we found the same image posted by the verified X handle of The Noticer on September 14, 2024. The post stated that a 31-year-old Pakistani man, Afzal Muhammad, was arrested in Tokyo for allegedly groping a sleeping high school girl on a train before dragging her off and sexually assaulting her.
On September 15, 2024, The Noticer also published a report on the incident.
The report identified Afzal as a vocational school student from Nakagami-cho, Akishima City who was arrested by officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Policeās Takao Police Station on September 11. He was taken into custody and questioned on suspicion of assaulting a high school girl who had fallen asleep on a JR Chuo Line train while returning home from school on August 22.
We also found similar reports on the incident published in September 2024 (here and here). MSN carried the viral image of Afzal in its report.
To further corroborate the incident, we conducted a keyword search in Japanese and found reports from several Japanese media outlets, including Jiji Press, Sankei News and Live Door News about the incident.
These outlets, through their posts on X, stated that the Takao Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested a 31-year-old Pakistani man on September 11 for allegedly sexually abusing a high school girl on a train and then assaulting her.
We also couldnāt find any credible news reports from Haryana about a person named Pramod Rathore arrested in Japan on charges of sexual assault.
Therefore, we conclude that the image shows a Pakistani man, who was arrested in Japan for molesting a girl. The claim is false.
