Two days after the election results were announced on February 13th, Dr Ajay Alok, JDU leader, hurled a serious accusation against AAP. In his tweet, Alok, alleged that 40 out of 62 members of the Aam Aadmi Party in the newly elected Delhi Legislative Assembly have been accused of rape.
’40 out of 62 MLAs are rape accused, with their support Arvind Kejriwal becomes Chief Minister, truly new type of politics has begun, people calling Delhi the rape capital have left even RJD (Rashtiriya Janata Dal) behind (sic), Lalu Prasad Yadav will be happy that at least someone is getting ahead, do you wonder why Nirbhaya happens people?’ read his tweet (translated from Hindi).
The tweet has over 8,000 retweets.
The claim went viral on social media.
Claim:
40 out of 62 AAP MLAs have been accused of rape.
Fact Check:
The claim is not true.
To lay the claim to rest, we checked the report by Association for Democratic Reforms, a non-partisan, non-governmental organization which works in the area of electoral and political reforms.
It aims to bring transparency and accountability in Indian politics and reducing the influence of money and muscle power in elections.
According to the report published on 12th February, 38 (61%) out of 62 MLAs from AAP and 5(63%) out of 8 MLAs from BJP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
33 (53%) out of 62 MLAs from AAP and 4(50%) out of 8 MLAs from BJP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Under the category, MLAs with cases related to Crimes against Women, it is stated that 13 MLAs have declared cases related to crimes against women.
Crimes against women are divided into rape (IPC Section-376) or ‘assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty’ (IPC Section-354).
Out of these 13 MLAs, only 1 MLA has declared case related to rape (IPC Section-376) against himself – AAP’s Mohinder Goyal from the Rithala constituency.
On page 50 of the 64-page report, it is stated that Mohinder Goyal from Rithala, who has declared rape charges against himself that includes, ‘Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.’ As per the report, Goyal is not convicted in any of the charges.
The report further states that AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan from Okhla (page 27), Prakash from Deoli ( page 36), Abhay Verma from Laxminagar( page 45), Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar ( page 53) and Dinesh Mohania from Sangam Vihar ( page 54) have been charged with IPC 354, ‘assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty’, but not rape.
Ergo, the claims made by Alok are false.
Only one AAP MLA, Mohinder Goyal can be listed as a rape accused.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343
Also Read: Fact Check: No, BJP Did Not Lose 36 Seats By Margin Of Fewer Than 2000 Votes
