Sri Lankans love their Tamil cinema heroes, and few command a following here quite like Thalapathy Vijay, now the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. So, when posts began landing in Sinhala feeds claiming that Vijay had ordered rapists to be hanged within 24 hours, many shared them with pride, as though a screen hero had stepped off the screen to deliver real justice. The same claim had already flooded Indian social media, mostly in Hindi, before crossing over to us. We investigated. Here is what we found.
Social Media Posts
A series of posts claimed that Thalapathy Vijay had taken a hardline stance against sexual assault and was ensuring that offenders faced punishments such as execution by hanging within 24 hours. They circulated like this:
The same claim also spread in English, insisting that anyone identified as a rapist, whether in Tamil Nadu or anywhere else in India, would be hanged within 24 hours.
We set out to verify the truth behind these claims.
Fact-Check
No Official Record Supports the “24-Hour Execution” Claim
Had Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Thalapathy Vijay genuinely imposed such a punishment on sexual offenders, Indian media, international media, and credible official sources would have reported it. Our investigation found no official confirmation, decision, or report of any such move.
Several cases of gang rape involving underage girls were recently reported in Rajasthan, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh. In none of them were the offenders hanged within 24 hours....
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