IndiaSpend’s faulty FactChecker.in does have a rather dubious track record. They are known to manipulate facts to suit their preconceived notions and twist details of a crime to peddle their agenda. Even so, the revelations made by activist Sanjeev Newar on Sunday were quite shocking.
Audio recordings of calls released on social media by Newar revealed that a reporter associated with the website made a deliberate attempt to manipulate the words of a minor Dalit victim of a hate crime. The said hate crime occurred in June 2019 in Bihar’s Begusarai in a Muslim dominated locality. According to the victims, local Muslim goons attacked them in a bid to force them to sell their house.
The controversial Faulty FactChecker.in has issued a statement on Twitter over the controversy. It said that they had concluded that the said hate crime was indeed a hate crime following the interview. However, it hasn’t been added yet to their database. But it will be soon, they assure us. More than two months have passed since the hate crime first came to light, and yet, it hasn’t been added to their database so far.
To begin with, following the interview, we had already concluded that the attack was motivated by religious bias. It will be added to our database after we receive details on the other cases we are probing, as we said.
— FactChecker.in (@FactCheckIndia) August 19, 2019
Faulty FactChecker.in defended the rather atrocious conduct of their reporter. They claim he was ‘courteous’ and listened patiently to the victim’s account. They say, “In places where more information was needed, he asked for more details — as is the job of a reporter.”
The reporter was courteous throughout the interview. He asked his questions politely and listened to the victim patiently. In places where more information was needed, he asked for more details — as is the job of a reporter.
— FactChecker.in (@FactCheckIndia) August 19, 2019
However, their statement does not explain why the reporter would say something such as “They must not be saying such a thing(?)” while asking the minor boy whether the local Muslim goons would ask them if they are Hindus before allegedly beating them up. It demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that the reporter wasn’t seeking more details of the events that transpired, he wanted to poke holes in the victim’s account. Also, as ‘fact-checker’ one would know that perpetrator would seldom inform his victim the reason he is committing this crime. By their logic, if the perpetrator does not inform the victim he is being beaten up for his caste, religion, then it would not be a ‘hate crime’.
There’s more evidence that the reporter did not approach the victim with honest intentions. The minor victim was asked whether he filed the police complaint at the behest of Bajrang Dal. There was a clear attempt to insinuate that the victim was influenced by the Bajrang Dal to file the complaint and he did not do so on his own. The victim strongly refuted the insinuations and asserted that Bajrang Dal only helped him try and secure justice. The account mentioned in the police complaint was entirely his.
Faulty FactChecker.in concluded their statement by asserting that it was their duty to probe every allegation and clarify any doubts they have.
As for your threat warning us against probing cases — it is our job to probe every allegation and if there are doubts, we certainly will clarify them.
— FactChecker.in (@FactCheckIndia) August 19, 2019
One is forced to ask at this point, where do insinuations and attempts to discredit the victim’s account of events fit into their ‘probe’? They are not an investigative authority, they certainly don’t appear to be qualified enough to conduct any valid ‘probe’. And as has become obvious from the clips, they are extremely unprofessional and don’t appear to have the slightest clue about how to talk to victims of hate crimes.
There is another indication that betrays the fact that their intentions were not honest. They appear to claim that there were contradictions in the story of the hate crime. However, there weren’t any contradictions in the victim’s account of events at all. The facts of the matter have been accurately reported by Swati Goel Sharma for Swarajya Mag and no one has been able to point out any inaccuracies in the said report.
Since December 2018, every incident added to the database has been after a probe on the ground (where there are contradictions in the sequence of events), and through phone calls (where such bias is more immediately apparent).
— FactChecker.in (@FactCheckIndia) August 19, 2019
They haven’t yet clarified what the said contradictions were that motivated them to conduct a ‘probe’ on the ground. It appears the only contradiction in the whole sequence of events was the fact that the hate crime busts the myth of Dalit-Muslim unity and the fake narrative that Muslims are always victims. The hate crime contradicts Faulty FactChecker.in’s narrative and that appears to be the contradiction which motivated them to conduct a ‘probe’ on the ground.
The shabby conduct of Faulty FactChecker.in in the said matter ought to be the final nail in their coffin. However, in the corridors of the ‘liberal’ world, facts and integrity do not matter. The only thing that matters is power. Therefore, they will gladly sacrifice virtues and values at the altar of partisanship.
