Fact Check: Mubassir Khan from Bangladesh held in French woman rape case in Udaipur? No, find the facts here
An image, allegedly of a man, Mubassir Khan, in police custody, has been circulating online, claiming he is accused of raping a French woman in Udaipur.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:The image shows an illegal Bangladeshi man named Mubassir Khan, who raped a French woman in Udaipur, and was arrested by the UP Police.
Fact:The claim is false. A casting director, Pushpraj Ojha, also known as Siddharth, was arrested for allegedly assaulting the French woman.
(Warning: This article contains content related to violence against women that some readers may find disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.)
Hyderabad: A 29-year-old French woman was allegedly raped in Udaipur on June 22 while she was in the city for an ad shoot. The incident came to light after the woman filed a complaint on June 23.
In this context, with an intent to bring a communal angle to the incident, social media users have claimed that a person named Mubassir Khan, an illegal Bangladeshi Muslim, assaulted the French woman and has been arrested.
An X user wrote, āA French woman has been raped by a local in the popular Indian tourist city of Udaipur. The suspect is still on the run.ā
In response, another user, going by the name Hindutva Knight, shared an image of a man in police custody and claimed, āShe was raped by Mubassir Khan, an illegal Bangladeshi Muslim arrested by UP Police. (sic)ā
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the man accused of sexually assaulting the French woman was identified by the police as Pushpraj Ojha, also known as Siddharth.
We conducted a keyword search and found a report published by The Times of India on June 26. According to the report, 29-year-old casting director Pushpraj Ojha, also known as Siddharth, was arrested for allegedly assaulting the French woman who had travelled to Udaipur for an ad shoot.
Police said the incident occurred on the night of June 22, after the two had dinner near Pichola Lake. Ojha allegedly lured the woman under the pretext of a cigarette break and drove her to his apartment in Sukher, where the assault took place.
The victim filed a complaint on June 23, and an FIR was registered promptly. Ojha was arrested early on June 25 while attempting to flee via the Chittorgarh highway. He initially claimed it was a āhoney-trap,ā but later confessed to the crime.
We also found the incident reported by The Indian Express, Hindustan Times and NDTV. These reports also identified the accused as Pushpraj Ojha alias Siddharth.
Was any Mubassir Khan arrested by the UP police?
A reverse image search of the man in police custody led us to a June 23 post by the Bareilly Police, which featured the same image along with an official press note.
According to the post, on June 21, a 22-year-old man allegedly molested a minor girl while she was on her way to a coaching centre near Gandhi Puram, under the Izzatnagar police station limits. The incident was captured on a nearby CCTV camera. Based on the footage, the accused was identified as Musabbir.
When the police attempted to arrest him, Musabbir allegedly opened fire on the officers, prompting them to return fire in self-defence, during which he was shot in the leg. He was taken into custody and sent to a hospital for treatment. The police recovered a .315-bore country-made pistol, cartridges and a motorcycle without a number plate from his possession. Musabbir has been booked under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the POCSO Act, along with charges under the Arms Act.
This confirmed that the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Musabbir, not Mubassir Khan, in connection with a separate molestation case that took place in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, we conclude that the claim alleging an illegal Bangladeshi man named Mubassir Khan assaulted the French woman in Udaipur is false.
