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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Delhi CM Rekha Gupta accuses Mamata Banerjee of stalling SIR; TMC hits back
Kolkata (PTI): Alleging that her West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee had approached the Supreme Court to stall the SIR exercise to prevent the identification of infiltrators, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday claimed that the people of the state have made up their minds to dislodge the Trinamool Congress from power.
The TMC countered strongly, urging Gupta to "look into her own backyard" and accused her of making absurd allegations against the TMC government without checking facts.
Addressing participants at the 'Nari Sankalp Yatra' organised by the BJP's women's wing at Science City auditorium here, Gupta alleged that the "hands-off" and appeasement policies of the TMC government had allowed thousands of infiltrators to enter the state in recent years.
She claimed that this had put a strain on basic rights such as access to water, electricity, ration, education, livelihood and the right to vote for genuine citizens.
"She wants to perpetuate this and hence is trying to stall the SIR exercise, which aims at identifying and deporting infiltrators. Imagine a chief minister going to the apex court to argue against an exercise meant to ensure free and fair polls," Gupta said.
The BJP leader alleged that appeasement politics had reached an "alarming level" under the TMC regime.
Raising concerns over women's safety, she claimed that women in the state were not secure despite having a woman chief minister.
Referring to the rape-murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Hospital, Gupta alleged that the state government had failed to respond adequately to such crimes.
She also referred to the alleged rape of a woman medic in Durgapur and another law student on a Kolkata college campus, claiming that criminals had been emboldened to commit brutalities against women.
She alleged that in crimes against women, overall crime incidents and child marriages, West Bengal remained among the top -- "a slur on a state which once led intellectual and social movements and set examples for the rest of the country," she said.
Criticising the state government's welfare initiatives, she said schemes such as Kanyashree were built on "false claims" and asserted that women needed security rather than assurances.
Accusing the state government of blocking central schemes, Gupta alleged that funds worth "lakhs of crores of rupees" had not reached the poor due to non-implementation of programmes such as Ayushman Bharat, PM Awas Yojana and Jal Jeevan Mission by the state.
"You are only interested in renaming projects and taking credit," she said.
Gupta also alleged that the education sector in the state had been adversely affected, saying several state-run schools had closed due to a shortage of teachers and that the government was opposed to the National Education Policy.
Drawing a comparison with BJP-ruled Delhi, Gupta said, "People have already voted out 'Bhaia' (a reference to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal). Now it is your turn to bid farewell to 'Didi'." Calling upon women to resist what she termed "strong-arm tactics", she urged them to assert their strength, invoking the imagery of Goddess Durga.
"Bengal has the right to live with dignity, and women have the right to live with dignity," she added.
Reacting to Gupta's allegations, West Bengal Women and Child Welfare minister Shashi Panja accused her of making "absurd allegations" against the Trinamool Congress government ahead of elections.
Panja alleged that during Gupta's tenure in Delhi, several incidents had raised serious concerns, including reports of missing young women and a blast near the Red Fort.
She also criticised the air pollution situation in the national capital, claiming that people were struggling to breathe.
The TMC leader said that despite being in power for a year, Gupta was making "tall claims" instead of addressing key issues in Delhi.
Panja further alleged that the Delhi CM visited West Bengal during elections to "peddle false allegations" against the state government.
Rebutting Gupta, the TMC said in a post on X said, "Madam why did you go off-script again? For your edification, here are the cold, hard facts: In total cases of crimes (IPC + SLL), Bengal ranks a respectable 15th, far safer than BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, which languish near the bottom."
"In overall crime rate, Bengal sits comfortably at 28th. Who's second? Your own Delhi. Double Engine Gujarat and Haryana grab 4th and 5th as top-tier crime havens," the TMC said.
"In child marriage, Assam again takes the shameful pole position. And yet you dare lecture Bengal? Stop embarrassing yourself, stop the hypocrisy, and maybe fix the rotting mess in your own backyard before pointing fingers at a state that's outperforming your disasters on every key metric," the TMC countered.
