The viral claim says that police caught these Kashmiri girls from Kulgam area of Jammu and Kashmir for running a sex racket.
An image of a few men and women with their faces covered, along with police personnel has gone viral with the claim that police have caught these Kashmiri girls from Kulgam area of Jammu and Kashmir for running a sex racket.
Several Facebook users have posted this image claiming it to be from Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the viral claim to be misleading. The incident is over four years old and it took place not in Kulgam, but in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. In December 2015, Dehradun police arrested eight people, including six women, for running a sex racket.
Multiple Facebook users have posted the same content, which can be seen here.
With the help of reverse image search, we found that this viral image has been used repeatedly over the years since 2015 in various online articles and websites.
We found a news report published on the news website “The Tribune” in December 2015.
According to the news report, the Clement Town police of Dehradun arrested eight persons, including six women, for their alleged role in running a sex racket. The photo was taken by the Tribune news service.
It was revealed during investigation that the sex racket was being run on a rented accommodation of a retired Army officer.
Earlier in 2018, there were news reports regarding a sex racket in Kulgam involving local Kashmiri girls and high-profile people.
But the viral picture showing men and women in covered faces is not from Kulgam but from Dehradun. The picture was taken in 2015.