Fact Check: Viral post on Pakistani man marrying his own blood sister makes a false claim
Claim: Pakistani man marrries his own blood sister
Fact: A photo of a Pakistani-origin Muslim family wedding in 2021 in Texas is being shared with false claim
It is not uncommon in some Muslim families to combine the wedding receptions of their two sons. However, a Pakistani family took the wedding celebrations a notch higher. The wedding ceremony in Punjab province witnessed six brothers tying the knot with six sisters from the opposite family. The grooms’ family wanted to promote simple marriages in the society and therefore conducted the joint wedding without dowry.
Meanwhile, an image purportedly showing a newly married couple is being shared on social media with the claim that a Pakistani man married his own blood sister.
The viral post, showing the photo of a newly married couple with the ARY News channel logo, is captioned, “Another gem of Islam! A Pakistani man got married to his own blood sister and said in our religion everything is fine. This is called true "Mauj-HUB"!”
he viral post link is here and archive link here.
Here’s the screenshot of the viral post.
During the investigation, the Telugupost Fact Check team found this claim to be false.
Since the viral post has two clues — logo of ARY News and the Budbak account on Facebook, we first began the investigation by scanning the social media pages of Pakistani news channel ARY News. The posts on the X account of ARY News were found showing the channel ID in the middle and accompanied by graphics in Urdu.
However, ARY News channel does not follow the same template across its various social media channels. On other platforms, you will find the ARY New logo at the right side of the screen.
Here’s the comparison of viral graphic and original graphic image on the Pakistani news channel.
When we ran the viral image of the couple through Google Lens tool, we came across Zawaj marriage bureau, a matrimonial site in Pakistan, featuring the couple pics shown in the viral post.
During the Google Reverse Search, we found Tara Arseven Photography website showcasing the pics of a Pakistani wedding in Frisco, Texas in the first week of April 2021.
She also posted a few pics of the wedding on her official Facebook account on March 27, 2021.
We then searched for Budbak on Facebook but we could not find the viral post on the timeline. It seems the user may have deleted it.
With regard to the investigation and social media posts, we can conclude that the groom and bride of Pakistani-origin are not related by blood. They belong to different Pakistani Muslim families who came to know each other through mutual friends. Hence, the claim is false.
(This story was originally published by telugupost.com, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
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Deaf and mute woman breaks 16-year silence, exposes serial sexual abuse, blackmail in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): A deaf and mute woman's complaint about a sexual assault that took place 16 years ago in Mumbai has unmasked a serial predator, revealing a disturbing pattern of abuse and blackmail he perpetrated on several women from the community.
The accused was arrested on December 13 after the survivor broke her silence recently following the suicide attempt by one of the women he allegedly sexually harassed.
Disturbed by the suicide attempt, she confided in her friends during a video call about the assault that occurred in 2009.
According to the police, the survivor, a resident of the western suburbs, communicated in sign language during a video call with her friends and colleagues, who were part of a WhatsApp group, that the accused had drugged and raped her when she was a minor.
She also took her husband into confidence, and with support from Thane Deaf Association president Vaibhav Ghaisis, activist Mohammed Farhan Khan, sign language interpreter Madhu Keni, and a retired officer from the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities Divyangjan, the survivor approached the police.
The survivor, her husband and a few of her friends went to the Kurar police station, where her statement was recorded in camera, with Keni as interpreter, and the accused, Mahesh Pawar, was arrested a few hours later from Virar, a suburb in Palghar district.
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Recalling the trauma she endured 16 years ago, the survivor said that a female friend had invited her to explore the city in July 2009 and took her to Pawar's home in Vakola, Santacruz, an official said.
The accused allegedly offered her samosas and some beverage to celebrate the female friend's birthday. The survivor said she was forced to have the drink, which Pawar had allegedly spiked, and after a while, her friend left her alone with him.
The accused allegedly overpowered and raped her, and later blackmailed her with the recorded video of the assault.
The trauma of assault stayed with her over the years, and the attempted suicide of another woman from the community, allegedly assaulted by Pawar, propelled her to come forward.
A probe has revealed that the accused had similarly drugged and assaulted speech and hearing impaired women and threatened them into silence by blackmailing them with obscene videos, a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly shot obscene videos of several women, using which he blackmailed them and extorted money, gold and mobile phones, he said.
He allegedly forced women into participating in nude video calls with him and recorded these to threaten them, the official said.
"As per initial investigation so far, we have evidence of his abuse of seven women, but the number can increase to more than 24," the official told PTI.
While Pawar has been remanded in judicial custody, no other woman has come forward with a complaint against him as yet, he said.
Talking to PTI, Keni said all women who have survived abuse and harassment by Pawar want to lodge a complaint against him.
She claimed that the accused had extorted money from one of the women he abused, but did not return the sum even when she needed it for a medical emergency.
