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It’s been over a week since their 31-year old medical student daughter was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. But the harrowing experience of dealing with their child’s death and filing petitions have become worse for the victim’s parents with the rumours filled on social media platforms.

To add to it, influencers have jumped on the trend to make clickbaity reels on Instagram. Read on!

With information, comes misinformation.

With news, comes ‘fake news.’

BOOM’s fact-checking team has been working round the clock to debunk misinformation related to the Kolkata doctor’s rape-murder case.

Social media has been rife with the claim that 150mg of semen was found in the victim of the horrific rape and murder. This claim was also reported by multiple news outlets, which cited the victim's autopsy report as the source of the claim. Some users also claimed that the weight of semen found was 150 gm.

BOOM found this claim to be misleading; Dr. JA Jaylal, former National President of the Indian Medical Association, confirmed to us that according to the autopsy report, the '150m' figure in grams referred to weight of the entirety of the "External and Internal Genitalia". The West Bengal government also relayed the same to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, during a suo moto plea hearing on the case.

Also, several posts misidentifying an intern at RG Kar Medical College as the son of former West Bengal minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Soumen Mahapatra were circulating, alleging that the TMC leader's son was involved in the rape and murder of a junior doctor.

BOOM spoke to Soumen Mahapatra, who refuted the viral claims about Subhadip Singha Mahapatra being his son interning at RG Kar Medical College. He clarified that his son, Bodhisattwa Mahapatra, is a doctor currently serving as the Block Medical Officer of Health (BMOH) at the Panskura 1 Block Health Center in Purba Medinipur district and has no professional or educational connection with RG Kar Hospital.

Read all our fact-checks related to the incident here.

Kolkata Medical Student's Tragic Death Leaves Family Battling With Grief And Misinformation

🔖 There have been claims about who informed the Kolkata doctor’s parents first and told them she died by suicide. Facebook posts also claimed that a political party stopped the family while they were bringing their daughter's body home on August 10.

Decode’s Swasti Chatterjee visited the deceased doctor's family in the outskirts of Kolkata who clarified several rumours which have been floating around on social media platforms.

Some social media posts alleged that their daughter's car was vandalised and ransacked after the incident. The victim's mother clarified, "Our car was not vandalised. When we were leaving the hospital premises, the police wanted us to hurry and leave." The victim's aunt added, "Her mother, who was present on the spot, said that her daughter has died and she pleaded to the police to leave the car."

Read More

Influencers Turn Kolkata Doctor's Rape-Murder Fodder For Clickbait Reels

🔖 Meanwhile, Instagram and YouTube have several videos reenacting the rape of the Kolkata doctor, with make up artists, doctors, painters and even coaching classes turning the crime into a trend.

Beauty and make-up influencer Mayazmakeover run by Mousumi Kundu uploaded a reel on August 14, a day before the Indian Independence Day, where using make-up she recreated injuries as seen in photos of the deceased doctor; a doctor’s white coat and stethoscope included for added effect.

Nivedita Niranjankumar documented how internet influencers turned the tragedy into viral videos.

Read More

Is India Prepared For Mpox Outbreak? Experts Explain Symptoms And Precautions

🔖 India's Union Health Ministry has heightened surveillance at international airports and land ports, especially those bordering Bangladesh and Pakistan, in response to rising concerns about Mpox.

• The World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency over a new Mpox outbreak in Africa, with over 17,000 cases reported, primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mpox symptoms include fever, rash, and pus-filled blisters.

• The virus mainly spreads through close contact with an infected person's sores, scabs, respiratory droplets, or oral fluids.

How to protect yourself from Mpox? Read Hera Rizwan’s explainer.

Read More

🚫 Fake News You Almost Fell For

🔍 Is Tax Clearance Certificate required for all Indians traveling abroad? Find out in 🔗 Nidhi Jacob’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 A viral post on social media claimed that a student returning from a protest against the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata, was brutally murdered. Read 🔗 Shefali Srivastava’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 A video of a makeup artist, who used makeup to recreate bruises on her face and neck as part of a dramatised recreation, went viral falsely misidentifying the former as the 31-year old doctor who was raped and murdered at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. 🔗 Anmol Alphonso ↗️ debunked the claim.

🅱️ Recommends

📖 This week's recommendation is: How false news can spread

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Verified By Boom is written by Divya Chandra, edited by Adrija Bose

and designed by H Shiva Roy Chowdhury.

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