A newspaper clipping claiming Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said his job is to save cows and not women, is false as the fake quote originated from a satire website in 2018.
The newspaper clipping which features an image of Adityanath with the headline which when translated reads, "Another irresponsible statement by Yogi Adityanath, he says our job is to protect cows, not girls."
The clipping is viral in the backdrop of a 19-year-old Dalit girl from Hathras, Uttar Pradesh succumbing to her injuries in Safdarjung hospital, Delhi on September 29, 2020. The young woman had been allegedly brutally assaulted and raped by four upper caste men on September 14, 2020, while she was collecting animal fodder in the fields. All the four accused have been since arrested. The state administration has also faced a lot of criticism as in the early hours of September 30, 2020, the Hathras Police were accused of cremating the victim's body without consent from the family, which the police have denied.
Also Read: No, This Is Not A Photo Of The Deceased Hathras Victim
BOOM found several Facebook posts that shared the image slamming the chief minister.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
(In Hindi - योगी आदित्यनाथ का फिर गैर जिम्मेदाराना बयान, कहा हमारा काम गाय बचाना है, लड़की नहीं)
Viral on Facebook
On searching with the same caption, we found that the fake quote was viral.
Also Read: 2016 Video Falsely Shared As Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Assaulted
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the quote originated from a satire website and we did not find any credible news reports on any such statement given by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The quote, "Our job is to save cows and not girls" first appeared on a satire website 'rhumortimes.com' which website is no longer active.
One can see a screenshot of the satire article in the below tweet. The article was published on April 10, 2018, with the headline which translated reads, "Yogi Adityanath's explanation, said, our job is to save the cow, not girls"
The satire article talks about the 2017 Unnao rape incident in Uttar Pradesh taking a shot at the Adityanath government on the issue of women's safety in the state.
Click here to read an archive of the article
The About Us section of the website also clearly mentions that it is a satire website stating, "rhumor times is a satire and humor website. the website publishes rumor with humor.". Click here to view.
The same fake quote has been doing the rounds on social media since 2018 and was previously fact-checked by The Lallantop in April 2018.
Also Read: India's Hindi Heartland Has A Gangrape Problem
