‘Assam Rape Festival’ Story By ‘National Report’ Went Viral And Triggered By Controversy And Criticism
A Web site article by "National Report," America's independent news team published Nov. 3 titled, "The Assam Rape Festival in India Begins This Week," went viral and was widely shared through social media sources.
The article was supposedly written in satirical tone, but it was reported that many readers believed the ideas conveyed by the article were triggered by a controversy.
The "National Report" story was about an annual rape festival celebrated in Assam, the north eastern state of India. The story talked about how in such a festival every unmarried girl of the aged between 7 and 16 will either have the chance to flee to safety or get raped during the festival.
The content went viral on social media and many believed the ideas stated in the story were true. The article was shared about 212,000 times in Facebook and around 1800 times in Twitter. The story quoted an organizer who described the festival as an ancient tradition of Assam where the man who raped most women would get trophy or prize.
The article read, "Madhuban Ahluwalia who heads up the annual festival told reporters why the event is so important. This is a long-time tradition in Assam dating back thousands of years," Ahluwalia said.
"We rape the evil demons out of the girls, otherwise they will cheat on us and we will be forced to kill them. So it is necessary for everyone," quoted the article about the rape festival in Assam, India.
The article also quoted that the Assam Rape Festival began in 43 B.C. when BaalKrishna Tamil Nadu raped everyone in his village of Doomdooma.
"India is always raping something. Makes me sick!" Terrance, as social media user, commented on the article.
As the story went viral, it garnered wide criticism from India and around the world. On Thursday, Nov. 6, Criminal Investigation Department of Assam registered a "suo motu" case against the Web site for publishing a story which was absolutely defamatory in nature. Indian media and netizens criticized the alleged satire.
"The fraudulent and extremely unethical article about the completely fictitious festival is an act of serious disrespect and total disregard shown towards the humble and unsuspecting people of our beautiful state of Assam," the Chief Minister's statement said in an e-mail to Hindustan Times an esteemed publication in India.
"The details in the article are gruesome to the point of being demonic and the writer of such a piece of pure evil is not fit for human society," read the statement.
An Indian in a response to the "National Report's" story on Assam Rape Festival responded with a parody news story titled, "The Great American Mass Shooting Festival Begins Next Week" on a Web site called "International Report." However, the writer of the "International Report" story added a disclaimer criticizing the "National Report's" story.