The “Assam Rape Festival” article about an ancient Indian festival that promotes rape and has gone viral in the past few weeks is not only a hoax, but it’s gone too far, said a charity that was referenced in the fake piece.
The article, which is featured on satire news site National Report, appears to make light of some of the high-profile rape cases that have made headlines in India in recent years.
It was shared hundreds of thousands of times over the past few weeks.
The National Report is a fake news site, similar to The Onion, but does not have the same name recognition. It also doesn’t have a clear disclaimer that it’s a satire site.
“National Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within National Report are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental,” a disclaimer reads for the website, accessible via Archive.org.
The website features articles such as “Ted Nugent Survives Assassination Attempt” and “Texas Scientists Given Green Light to Use Sex Offenders for Medical Research.”
The website’s Facebook page admin also posted a response to a user making fun of people who believe the site’s false news reports, saying that “you’re not alone on that one … its the ppl who don’t get it that are such a joy to [mess] with. TY.”
The “Rape Festival” article has drawn confusion and anger from many Indian users on social media. They said the article simply went too far.
The article links to a real Indian charity that seeks donations for Indian women, and it also includes a phone number for a hotline, making it even harder to distinguish whether it’s real or fake.
Jai Bhujwala, who heads the real Give India charity referenced in the report, said he requested the author of the report to remove it from the website.
“We support women’s causes but this is not the right way that we would like to present it,” Bhujwala told India Real Time, according to the Wall Street Journal.
He said that the charity has received a number of comments about the piece.
“We are trying to reassure then that this is not a form of fundraising that we would want to endorse and would not want it to be associated with what Give India is trying to do,” he said.
In Assam, located in northern India, there have been protests over the article’s content.
“The Assam Rape Festival is not humorous. It is distasteful, unethical, abominable, despicable and must be abhorred by all sections of society,” Bharat Narah, the press adviser to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, told NDTV.
