Old and unrelated image shared as IIT-BHU rape case accused celebrating after bail

The viral image dates back to July 2021 and it is unrelated.

Three men allegedly raped a woman student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) when she had come out of her hostel with a friend on the night of 1 November 2023. Anand alias Abhishek Chauhan, Kunal Pandey, and Saksham Patel, believed to be BJP workers of the Varanasi unit, were arrested in this case December last year. Recently, the Allahabad High Court granted conditional bail to two of the three accused in this case. In this context, an image allegedly showing three men cutting a cake is being widely shared on social media with the claim that it showed the three accused in the IIT-BHU gangrape case cutting a cake and celebrating with BJP workers after they were released on bail. However, while there were reports of the accused being welcomed with garlands, but we found that the viral image is in fact old.

The image is being shared on Twitter with the caption, “How can a country be safe for women where rapists are welcomed by cutting cakes?? This is how BJP members celebrated the arrival of the rapist of a BHU student at his home. Will women be safe under the BJP government?”

Fact Check-

We started our investigation with a reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a report by Aaj Tak dated 01 September 2024. According to the report, BJP MLA Saurabh Srivastava clarified to Aaj Tak that the viral image is around 5 years old. He explained that it was taken during the pandemic, which is evident from the mask seen around his neck. He also stated that he has no connection with the accused. The man seen in the middle of the viral image is BJP MLA Saurabh Srivastava from Varanasi Contt.

Archive link

Moving forward, we found several posts on Twitter and the comment section states that the image is old dates back to July 2021. Using this hint, we searched and found an Instagram post with the same image uploaded on 12 July, 2021 by Saurabh Srivastava, with the caption, ‘Hearty birthday wishes to BJP’s Metropolitan Vice President Shri Madhukar Chitransh ji and youth worker Shri Saksham Singh Patel.’

Saksham Patel is one of the three accused in the IIT-BHU rape case. It should be noted that Saksham Patel has not yet been granted bail in this case; according to reports, his bail application is set to be reviewed on 14 September 2024.  which proves that the viral image is old.

So, we can understand that an old image of one of the three accused men in the IIT-BHU gangrape case falsely shared as the three cutting cake and celebrating with BJP workers after they were released on bail. 

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found that the claim made along with the viral image to be Misleading. The viral image dates back to July 2021 and features BJP MLA from Varanasi Saurabh Srivastava, along with Saksham Patel, who is an accused in the IIT-BHU rape case, and other BJP workers. Saksham Patel is still in jail has not yet been granted bail, only two of the accused have been released on bail.