A newspaper clipping is doing rounds on social media claiming that 4000 RSS members were arrested in the year 1971. The post also claims that the members were arrested for performing unnatural sexual acts during the protest for the liberation of Bangladesh.
The headline of the article read, ‘4000 RRS workers arrested’ and the dateline read, ‘Sunday, August 30, 1971’.
“लो मिल गया सबुत 1971 मे जेल जाने का सबुत धारा 377 के आरोप मे जेल गया था इसलिए सत्ता मे आते ही सबसे पहले धारा 377 को समाप्त किया,” the caption of the Facebook post read.
(Translation: Here we have found the proof of them going to jail in 1971. He went to jail under IPC Section 377. That’s why he abolished Article 377 first as soon as he came to power)
Here’s the link to the above post.
The post was shared extensively on Facebook.
More posts can be seen here, here, here, here, here and here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found the claim to be false.
Firstly, we found that the clipping has been generated through one of the ‘fake newspaper clip generator’ websites titled fodey.com.
On the website, one can customize the name of the newspaper, date, headline and article text.
Moreover, we also found out that August 30, 1971, was a Monday and NOT a Sunday, as mentioned in the dateline of the viral clipping.
In 2019, NewsMobile debunked a similar clipping where the same template was used to spread misinformation about Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
https://newsmobile.in/articles/2019/12/09/kejriwal-was-not-accused-of-rape-in-1987-dont-believe-this-fake-news-clipping/
We then checked the veracity of the viral claim. We ran a keyword search but did not find any reports of RSS workers being arrested.
However, we found reports suggesting that in 1971, Members of Jan Sangh faced court arrest while protesting in support of Bangladesh’s liberation. The same was mentioned in recent reports by TOI, The Quint and The Wire.
But, none of the reports mentions that RSS workers were arrested in 1971 under IPC section 377.
Hence, from the above fact check, it is clear that the posts in circulation are false.
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