Claim: Image of the school students being arrested in connection with the gang rape of a schoolgirl in the Homagama area.
Fact: The viral image is AI-generated.
The Homagama Police recently arrested seven people, including six school students, on charges of gang-raping a 15-year-old schoolgirl in the Homagama area of Colombo. Following this, an image is being widely circulated on social media claiming to show the police arresting the six schoolchildren in question.
Sharing the image and details of the case on TikTok, a user wrote in Sinhala, “These awful dogs.”
Another user posted this image on Facebook with a Sinhala caption saying, “වයස 15 දැරිය සමූහ දූශනයකට ලක් කල එම වයස් වල සැකකාර සිසුන් 6 දෙනා පරිවාස බාරයට (The 6 boys accused of gang raping the 15-year-old have been arrested into juvenile custody.)”
Similarly, some news outlets and many social media users shared the image on social media platforms including Facebook and X, voicing their outrage over the incident. Such posts can be seen here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Many social media users also posted comments under these posts calling for severe punishment, believing the image to show the suspects in the gangrape case.
Fact Check / Verification
On closer scrutiny of the viral image, we noticed several elements that raised our suspicion. To begin with, the faces of the accused, who are said to be the arrested students, looked almost identical with similar facial features and body postures. They were also seen in their school uniform, and wearing black belts, not typically worn with uniforms. While four students are seen walking away from the bus, two of them are seen entering the vehicle. The texture of the elements also appeared to be very soft, all pointing towards the use of generative AI technology.
We verified the image using several AI image detectors such as HIVE Moderation, Wasitai, and Sightengine all of which confirmed the use of AI technology in creating the image.
Conclusion
The viral image shared on social media claiming to show the school students arrested in connection with the Homagama gang rape is AI-generated.
Result: Altered Media
Our Sources
HIVE Moderation: AI Image Detector
Wasitai: AI Image Detector
Sightengine: AI Image Detector
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