Pakistan grave necrophilia hoax

In April 2023, reports circulated that Pakistanis were forced to lock the graves of women due to necrophilia, accompanied by an image of a grave locked with a padlock. These were proven false, and that the grave in the accompanying image was actually in India, and was locked to prevent people walking over the grave and to prevent any other bodies being buried over it.

The hoax was mainly spread by Indian sources (including The Times of India) in what some publications characterized as an attempt to “discredit Pakistan”.

Origin

Asian News International (ANI) was one of the first publications to circulate the hoax. The story was then shared by other Indian news sources, such as the Hindustan Times and Firstpost. The ‘story’ subsequently went viral across social media, especially X (Twitter).

Debunk

Alt News, an Indian fact-checking organisation, published a report debunking the hoax and explaining that the padlocked grave was not in Pakistan, but in the Indian city of Hyderabad. Alt News reached out to a local social worker in Hyderabad, who visited the graveyard and confirmed the location of the grave, while also contacting a religious leader, who said the reason for the padlock for the grave was to prevent any other bodies being buried over the grave.

References

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