Several news outlets including News18, Zee News, Times Now Navbharat misreported a scripted video made by a content creator to falsely claim that a 24-year-old woman married her 50-year-old father in a traditional temple ceremony, challenging societal norms.
BOOM found that the video does not show a real incident. Instead, the clip is a cropped version of a scripted video intended to show a daughter-in-law marrying her father-in-law.
The news outlets reported on the video based on a post from Samajwadi Party leader Jaysingh Yadav on X, where he shared the video claiming that the woman spoke to the media after marrying her father in a temple and expressed no reservations with the marriage, which was performed according to Hindu rituals.
An excerpt from News18 article reads, "In a viral video, a 24-year-old woman introduces her 50-year-old father as her husband and claims they were married in a traditional ceremony at a temple. Although the video is believed to date back to before 2020 (it was originally posted to TikTok which is banned in India now), it has sparked fresh debates about legality, morality, and societal norms."
"News18 could not confirm the veracity of the claims in the video", the report added. Its archive can be read here.
Other news outlets, including Times Now Navbharat, Zee News, Deccan Herald, Jagran, and India Times, also reported same about the video.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on keyframes extracted from the viral video, combined with related keyword searches, and traced a longer version of the video to a verified YouTube channel called Royal Tiger, uploaded on November 2, 2024.
We found a disclaimer at the 47-second mark, stating the content was "purely made for entertainment purposes only."
Furthermore, we reviewed the entire video and found that it depicts a daughter-in-law marrying her father-in-law, not a father marrying his daughter, as some media outlets claimed.
We then noticed the details about the YouTube channel and found that it is being run by a content creator named Ankita Karotiya. Karotiya described herself as a video creator and a Delhi-based "prankster" on her Instagram handle.
Apart from this, we also found the same man, who played the role of father-in-law, in another video posted by the channel. The man can also be seen playing the role of an auto driver in a video posted on another YouTube channel run by the same content creator.
BOOM has reached out to Kataria for comment. The article will be updated if we get a response.