Some news went viral on social media claiming: “If a woman wears provocative clothing, the complaint of sexual harassment will not be taken into account”.
(Screenshot from Facebook post)
Debunked Source
Fact Check
In order to verify the claim, we searched for keywords “If a woman wears provocative clothing. Then the complaint of sexual harassment made by her will not be taken into account” on Google search engine. Keyword search revealed that a court in Kerala has held that sexual harassment charges will not be valid if a woman is found wearing “sexually provocative” clothes.
(Screenshot from The Indian Express)
Source
Sexual Harassment Charge Invalid If Women Wears “Provocative Clothes”: Kerala Court
Rating
False Context/ Misleading
Conclusion
Our fact-check confirmed that Bangladesh social media users shared a court statement from Kerala, India, to mislead the general public, specifically the women.
ABCDE Framework-Based Analysis
| Actor | Independent accounts and pages on Facebook are involved in spreading misinformation on social media. |
| Behavior | The false news of not registering harassment cases if the woman was wearing provocative clothes was circulated. |
| Content | Social Media posts. |
| Degree | The content is being spread to misinform people, the target audience of the news was the general public of Bangladesh, especially the women. Misinformation was mainly spread through Facebook. |
| Effect | Uncertainty and fears were caused. The news is being circulated to mislead the masses and cause fear among women. Many men appreciated the decision while women expressed anger. |