An image showing ex-Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kuldeep Singh Sengar being garlanded and celebrated after what looks like his release from prison eight years after his conviction in the 2017 Unnao rape case is being widely circulated on social media.
What's the claim?: The viral post claims that Sengar has been released from jail and was welcomed with garlands by supporters under the current BJP rule.
What's the truth?: The viral image is AI-generated.
Kuldeep Sengar has not been released
No credible new report has confirmed that any such garlanding event has taken place.
Some context: Sengar, a former BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, was convicted in December 2019 for the abduction and rape of a minor in 2017 in Unnao.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court.
However, on 23 December Delhi High Court suspended Sengar’s life sentence, noting that he had already served over seven years in prison and granted him bail pending his appeal.
The matter was taken up by the Supreme Court of India following a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging that decision.
On 29 December, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court held that Sengar shall not be released from jail and that the High Court’s relief will not operate until the Supreme Court examines the matter further.
What we found: On closer inspection of the viral image, we found the Gemini AI watermark, indicating that it has been artificially generated.
We ran the image through Hive Moderation's AI detector tool
Hive Moderation said that it was 99 percent certain that the image was AI-generated.
We also ran the image through SightEngine's AI detector tool
SightEngine said that it was 80 percent certain that the image was AI-generated.
We also found various credible new reports including a report by The IndianExpress confirming that Kuldeep Sengar has not been released.
Conclusion: The viral image claiming that Sengar has been released and celebrated with garlands is AI-generated. Sengar remains in jail, as he continues to serve his sentence in another criminal case.
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