Unverified rumours suggesting that a video of an Indian doctor’s rape had been filmed and uploaded online have sparked a surge in search queries, with individuals seeking to find the purported footage.
According to Google Trends, searches related to explicit content involving the deceased doctor have surged across India, with terms referencing a rumoured rape video seeing a 110% increase, The Publica reports.
When this report was published on Monday, searches for a specific photo or video connected to the case ranked as the fifth most popular query in India, with a search for a "last video" of the doctor ranking 12th overall.
In image search queries, terms related to the doctor’s body and postmortem photographs were the fastest-growing, with more explicit searches for a rape photo also rising significantly.
The search interest extends beyond India, with users in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka reportedly seeking the alleged rape footage, according to The Publica. The searches also spilt over to pornographic websites, where the doctor's name has been linked with actual explicit videos.
This is not the first time footage related to gang rape in India has trended on pornographic sites.
In 2019, a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad was brutally raped and murdered. Her name later trended across major porn sites, with millions of searches recorded, particularly from users in India and Pakistan, as people sought the rumoured footage of her final moments.
Protests widen
Thousands of outraged Indian protesters, including arch-rival football fans and lawyers, called for justice Monday after the rape and murder of the doctor as widespread strikes by healthcare workers entered a second week, reports AFP.
The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor's bloodied body at a state-run hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 sparked medical strikes and protests across India, channelling anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.
Doctors' associations from government-run hospitals in many cities across India continued strikes on Monday that cut non-essential services.
The murdered doctor was found in the teaching hospital's seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a break during a 36-hour-long shift.
An autopsy confirmed sexual assault and, in a petition to the Kolkata High Court, her parents said they suspected their daughter was gang-raped.
In a rare case of unity, fans from Kolkata's usual rivals the East Bengal club marched alongside them in a midnight rally that lasted into the early hours of Monday.
"We are with the doctors," the fans chanted in unison, shrugging off torrential monsoon rains and police seeking to break up the rally. "We want justice."
Doctors from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the murder occurred, rallied outside the building on Monday.
"We are determined that we don't give in to pressure to remain silent," said Shreya Shaw, a woman doctor. "The protests will go on until we get justice."
With non-essential medical procedures closed, some of the striking doctors in the capital New Delhi offered to see patients for free outside India's health ministry.
