Media outlets reported a false claim a wedding was held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi for the first time in history.
BOOM was able to confirm that the Rashtrapati Bhavan has been the venue for several weddings over many years, with photo archives going back till 2016 on the official website.
The media outlets misreported the wedding of Poonam Gupta, claiming Gupta and her partner, were creating history by becoming the first ever to get married at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Gupta who is a officer with the Central Reserve Police Force, is part of President Droupadi Murmu's Personal Security Officer's (PSO) team.
News outlets Mirror Now, News X, India Today, Times of India and Republic TV published stories claiming Gupta whose wedding was on February 12, 2025 was the first ever person to get married at the official residence of the president.
Several media outlets had misreported that this was set to be the first wedding be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. These include India Today, News X, Mirror Now, CNBC TV 18, Deccan Herald, Republic TV, ETV Bharat, The Economic Times, Times of India, Vartha Bharati, Money Control, and Times Now, who ran articles misreporting and claiming that it was the first wedding to be held there.
PTI ran a video report and HT City Delhi posted an Instagram post with the false claim on the wedding.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the claim is false and that media outlets misreported that a wedding was taking place in the premises of the Rashtrapati Bhavan for the first ever time.
BOOM first checked the digital photo library on the Rashtrapati Bhavan wesite and found pictures uploaded previously of different weddings and receptions held in the premises.
We found photos of late President Pranab Mukherjee attending weddings held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in October 2016 and in April 2017.
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We also found similar photos of former President Ram Nath Kovind attending a wedding held at the President's Estate in February 2018.
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Additionally, the government's fact checking wing, PIB Fact Check put out a clarification that the "the President's Estate has been the venue of several weddings since its inception" and called out the media misreporting.