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Chicago Art Institute’s staircase is not being lit with Swami Vivekananda’s 1893 speech every day - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 15, 2021
A post is being shared on social media with a claim that the words spoken by Swami Vivekananda in his famous speech at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions are lit up every day on the stairs of the hall where he gave his speech. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Swami Vivekananda’s famous 1893 speech is lit up every day on the stairs of the hall where he gave his speech.
Fact: While it is true that Swami Vivekananda’s famous 1893 speech was lit up on the stairs of the building (Art Institute of Chicago) where he gave his speech, the stairs were not being lit with his speech every day. The stairs were lit with Vivekananda’s 1893 speech only during a certain period in 2010-11. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Parveen Kaswan, an Indian Forest Service officer, has also shared a similar photo (archived) with the following description – ‘On 11th September 1893 #SwamiVivekanand gave famous speech at Chicago. You know how this place looks like now. These are stairs of Chicago Art Institute where Swamiji’s 473 words are still illuminating. Still registering relevancy.’ ‘India Today’ published an article (archived) based on his tweet.
On 11th September 1893 #SwamiVivekanand gave famous speech at Chicago. You know how this place looks like now. These are stairs of Chicago Art Institute where Swamiji's 473 words are still illuminating. Still registering relevancy.
Tribute on his death anniversary. pic.twitter.com/OOLJQ4wSrb
We searched on the website of ‘The Art Institute of Chicago’, and found that Swami Vivekananda’s famous 1893 speech was indeed lit up on the stairs of the building where he gave his speech. The photos on social media are related to this installation. However, one can read from the website that the installation (‘Jitish Kallat: Public Notice 3’) was for exhibition during ‘Sep 11, 2010–Sep 12, 2011’ and ‘Currently Off View’.
On ‘The Art Institute of Chicago’ website, the details of the installation can be read – ‘The basis for Kallat’s installation is a landmark speech delivered by Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament, which was held in conjunction with the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in what is now the museum’s Fullerton Hall…….With Public Notice 3, Kallat converts Vivekananda’s text to LED displays on each of the 118 risers of the historic Woman’s Board Grand Staircase of the Art Institute of Chicago, adjacent to the site of Vivekananda’s original address. Drawing attention to the great chasm between this speech of tolerance and the very different events of September 11, 2001, the text of the speech will be displayed in the colors of the United States’ Department of Homeland Security alert system.’ Further information regarding the installation can be also found on Jitish Kallat’s website.
So, the stairs were not being lit with his speech every day. The installation was there only for a certain period in 2010-11. In a view captured on Google Maps in November 2011, it can be seen that there is no installation of Vivekananda’s speech on the stairs.
Also, in other photos and videos of the staircase after September 2011, it can be observed that either there is some other installation or no installation on the stairs.
Further information regarding the Woman’s Board Grand Staircase can be found here and here. Swami Vivekananda’s 1893 speech can be read here.
To sum it up, the Chicago Art Institute’s staircase is not being lit with Swami Vivekananda’s 1893 speech every day. It was lit up only during a certain period in 2010-11.

created: January 15, 2021


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Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, did not walk away in the middle of the Electoral Bonds hearing - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 20, 2024
A post featuring a live broadcast of the Supreme Court’s proceedings in courtroom number one shows Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta addressing a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. This clip is circulating on social media (here, here and here), with the claim that Chandrachud abruptly left the courtroom while Mehta was presenting his arguments. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud abruptly left the courtroom while Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta was presenting his arguments in front of the five-judge Bench led by the CJI.
Fact: The full video of the proceedings reveals that Chandrachud simply adjusted his chair and continued to listen to Tushar Mehta’s argument without leaving the proceedings. The original video had been edited between the 23:00 to 27:05 timestamps before being shared. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
After conducting a relevant keyword search regarding the viral video, we discovered the complete proceedings on the official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India. It was revealed that these proceedings occurred on 18 March 2024.
Upon further investigation, it was found that the viral video concludes at the 27:05 timestamp, where it appears that CJI is about to rise from his seat. However, the full video reveals that Chandrachud simply adjusted his chair and continued to listen to Tushar Mehta’s argument. The original video had been edited between the 23:00 to 27:05 timestamps before being shared. Following these arguments, the hearing concluded with the court issuing an order directing SBI to disclose ‘alpha-numeric details’ on or before 21 March 2024.
To sum up, Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, did not walk away in the middle of the Electoral Bonds hearing.

source: news-factly

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Kidnapping for Camel Racing - The Curious Case of Reporting (Part 1)
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 31, 2015
Using small children as Camel Jockeys, for the purpose of Camel Racing was rampant in the UAE. Small children from countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh etc were kidnapped and trafficked for this purpose. Though there is now an official ban on using children under 18 in these races, government data indicates that such cases were reported in India even in 2012. In this two part series, we look at the issue and also the cases that were reported. These cases give rise to more questions than answers.
What do you expect from a typical two-year-old? To be able to walk & run properly. But, immigrant two-year-old boys on camel farms in the UAE in the 1980s had a completely different childhood.
They were expected to ride and single-handedly steer Camels running at the speeds of 40-65 Kmph to victory, in competitive races spanning 10km racetracks. Yes, you read it right. Two-year-olds who do not have the motor abilities to kick a ball in the right direction were expected to be Camel Jockeys.
The lucky ones learnt to hold themselves to the camel long enough, and the unlucky ones died trying to do so.
Background
UAE after striking gold with their petroleum reserves dramatically changed from being a subsistence economy to an economic superpower. This accelerated growth ushered in a new way of life for the Emiratis, transforming their traditional Bedouin culture to a more urbanised consumption led lifestyle. Realising that the dramatic shift was creating a disconnect between the newer and older generations, reviving the Bedouin culture became a priority for the UAE citizens.
Apart from the traditional music, poetry, and dance, camel formed a very important part in the Bedouin life. Before the advent of modern devices, camels were a crucial source of income and also a means of transportation for the Arabs. Naturally, in their attempts to revive the culture, Camel was a central theme and the traditional camel races found their way back.
During the olden days, in a society where the camel was an essential entity in daily life, camel races were held as part of festivals or celebrations. But, in the urbanised 1980’s camels were transported in trucks to the newly built race tracks to participate in intensely competitive races. The stakes were high in these camel races. The winners were given cash prizes and luxury sedan cars, which isn’t even the main allure for the participants. The key takeaway for the winner of these races is a rise in their social standing and the pride of a owning a winning camel.
In such a competitive atmosphere, it became imperative that the participants found able and nimble jockeys to steer the animals to victory. The single most important characteristic of a good camel jockey is, light weight. Lesser the weight of the jockey, lesser is the pressure on the animal and the faster it runs. Keeping this in mind, even in the olden days, agile youngsters of the family were chosen to ride the camel. But in the new competitive races, these jockeys were replaced with children, who obviously weighed very less. Thus began the vicious practice of child trafficking from poor countries to UAE to serve as camel jockeys
The Inhuman Treatment meted of Children
Boys aged between 2 to 10 years were trafficked from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Mauritania to UAE to work as Camel Jockeys. According to a UNICEF report, in 2005, about 3000 children were found working on the camel farms, of which 2,800 (93%) of them were below 10 years.
Most of the children were sold by poor parents who couldn’t bear the burden of raising a child or who badly needed extra income to run their households. Shockingly, most of the parents had no idea what their child had in store once they reached UAE. Agents in interior districts of these countries acted as the middlemen between camel owners and parents of the children. The parents were often misled by them that their child was playing and kept well on the camel farms. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Children lived on the camel farms 24 hours a day. When they were not exercising the camels, kids were made to work on the camel farms.
While the camels were fed milk, ghee, almonds and dates, all the children got was biscuits or boiled rice with lentils. Children were purposefully underfed and regularly starved to keep their weight low.
For as trivial as a boy eating dates meant for the camel, he could be caned and in worse cases but rarely, could also be given electric shocks as punishment.
Children were subject to rampant sexual abuse, inflicted upon them by agents and older children in the camel farms. According to a study, children were sexually abused in 75% of the camel farms.
They were forcibly tied on the camel’s back and made to race the animal. Many children fell off the camels in between races, but nobody came to their aid and were left to the mercy of god until the race concluded. Many children died from the fall, some more from the stampede of animals running on the race track.
Children were regularly injured in these races but were provided no medical attention whatsoever, many of them are now left permanently physically disabled.
Away from home, in a land that doesn’t speak his language; the kid is put through an emotional hell. Many of the repatriated children reported developmental issues and all of them were scarred for life from the inhuman treatment meted out to them.
The horrors the little kids have been put through seriously make us question the existence of humanity in people. A practice that started out as an effort to reconnecting to one’s cultural roots proved to be a curse for a generation of children.
Uninhibited selfishness and unquenchable greed of humans is at the heart of these dreadful acts. They didn’t mind using toddlers as camel jockeys as long as they were not their own blood & the agents and middlemen appear to have sworn by to extract the last rupee from the poor.
Exploitation of the Highest Order
Any article on child jockeys is incomplete without the mention of Rahim Yar Khan. A study conducted by ‘Save the Children’ organisation in 2005, estimated that 15,000 children were trafficked from Rahim Yar Khan District in Pakistan, alone (from beginning till 2005). The study also states that the agents and middlemen were cruel extortionists who pocketed the 3-4 lakh rupees, the Sheikhs handed them as compensation cum travel expenses for the child, and in return the agents again demanded money from parents of the boys as travel expenses. The poor families often had to take a loan to meet these travel expenses. Not stopping at that, the agents stole half of the boys’ meagre wages of 400 Dirham per month. The measly 200-250 Dirham that reached the boys’ families at the end, hardly made any difference to their lives.
The poor parents were at the mercy of agents/middlemen. When some of the parents came to know about the truth of camel farms, they wanted to bring their children home, but the agent wouldn’t let the child go unless he was bribed. In some cases when the children were injured, the compensation that the Sheikh paid them never reached them, again thanks to the agents.
All the perpetrators involved in this racket deftly redefined Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’ to ‘survival of the ruthless’
Several attempts were made to put an end to this ghastly practice. In 1993 the UAE government passed a legislation banning the participation of children in Camel Racing. The Camel Racing Association, the apex governing body for the sport, also responded by placing a ban on small children and those weighing less than 45 kg from taking part in the races. But these laws were bypassed very easily by the collusion of officials, sheikhs and agents. Children were transported to UAE with the help of a ‘fake’ family whose entry was facilitated by the corrupt immigration officials.
This went on unchecked for years, despite vocal protests from organisations such as Anti Slavery International, UNICEF, Save the Children and human rights activists like Ansar Burney among many others.
Finally in 2005, after mounting International pressure, the UAE government issued a new federal law prohibiting children below the age of 18 years from participating in the races, and also signed an agreement with UNICEF to provide 2.7 million USD as aid in facilitating the rehabilitation, repatriation and reintegration of child jockeys to their home countries.
Rehabilitation Efforts and the Present Scenario
“Rival baby rider kills his fellow rider in spite”
“There was a child in the camp and because he wanted to leave the camp and go to Dubai, one of the racetrack owners ran over the child in a truck and killed him”
“If they were over-weight, they were given electric shocks twenty times a day to reduce their weight. They were given half a bread to eat.”
“They don’t know how to sleep on beds, how to take a bath, how to go to the toilet; they don’t know how to use the cupboards”
This is how the poor children spent their lives as camel jockeys. The 2.7 million USD in aid by the UAE government seemed like a cruel joke in the face of what thousands of young children were subjected to.
Rehabilitating and reintegrating children who were witness to such agonizing incidents, into the mainstream society is nothing short of an impossible task. The challenges are huge, quoting Mr.Ansar Burney from a newspaper report: “The police ask me for the name of the child, the father’s name, the name of the place and the name of the owner of the camp, so it’s very difficult to find this information for each and every boy; These boys arrived at the racetrack when they were six months old.” According to Mr.Burney, few boys have any idea who their real parents are and where they come from.
Well meaning NGOs like Ansar Burney trust, UNICEF are doing their part in rehabilitating these children to their parents. They have set up shelters for the jockeys in Abu Dhabi where they teach them basic education, encourage them to play among themselves and generally live the life of a child. According to UAE’s estimates, in 2005, there were 3000 camel jockeys on the farms and by March 2006 when the initial repatriation programme had ended, UNICEF reported that 1,075 children had been repatriated to their homes. According to authorities rest of the children returned by means other than UNICEF, but even then the officially repatriated numbers are only 1/3rd of the total number of children, leaving room for anxiety and doubt about the fate of remaining children.
There have also been many unconfirmed reports that some children are yet to receive the compensation and reintegration benefits sanctioned to them.
Even after 2005, reports of child trafficking for camel jockeys crop up every once in a while. Ansar Burney trust reported that child trafficking thrived in backward regions of Southern Punjab of Pakistan and that these child jockeys were used in much lesser known camel races till as late as the end of 2009.
In 2010, Anti Slavery International’s delegates attended a camel race in Abu Dhabi and suspected that the children riding the camels were underage and were not Emiratis as the officials claimed.
But there’s one bright spot in all of this gloom, technology has come to the aid of these children and robot jockeys have replaced kids now. Light weight robots that vaguely resemble a tiny child are widely used today as camel jockeys. This is a welcome move, and according to news reports the use of robot jockeys has substantially brought down the practice of using child jockeys.
Also, almost all NGOs and UNICEF unanimously agree that UAE’s efforts have drastically reduced the use of child jockeys in races. Due credit has to be given to Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President of UAE who passed the landmark legislation in 2005 and to the UAE authorities for taking stringent action.
All said and done, the only way such acts can be effectively prevented and put an end to is by addressing the problem at its core. Parents of the trafficked children opined that creating awareness about the issue in trafficking hotspots, limiting the role of the agent were crucial to ending this practice.
Importantly, rehabilitation efforts from all the stakeholders should be tightened, ensuring that every affected child gets a fair chance at living a good life. Many reports claim that children repatriated to their home countries did not get their reintegration benefits, the work of UAE government in completely exonerating themselves from gruesome crimes against these children will be an unfinished job until every affected child is tracked and assisted in rebuilding their lives.
The Indian Context
In India, trafficking children for child jockeys hasn’t been as rampant as it has been in Pakistan or Bangladesh, but some cases have definitely been reported. A 1997 Frontline article mentions an instance where Bangladeshi, and Indian children were being trafficked from Bangalore to UAE. Other than that and a couple of other stories, much hasn’t been written in Indian print media about child jockeys.
But Factly team stumbled across a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report which shockingly mentions the kidnapping of 70 persons from Gujarat in 2012 for Camel racing. The veracity of this report and what it means in the larger context of crime reporting shall be dealt in the subsequent article.
In Part 2, we look at the data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). It is intriguing that the victims in India (as per NCRB data) are from a very different age group and gender defying global trend.
Sources
The World of Child Labor: An Historical and Regional Survey
Ron Gluckman – Death in Dubai
UAE defies ban on child camel jockeys – The Independent
Child camel jockeys find hope – The BBC
Thousands of Boys Trapped as Camel Jockeys in Middle East – Voice of America


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Kidnapped for Camel Racing - The Curious Case of Reporting (Part 2)
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 1, 2015
In part 1, we looked at the issue of young children being trafficked for camel racing in detail. In this story, we look at the data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). It is intriguing that the victims in India (as per NCRB data) are from a very different age group and gender defying global trend. This inconsistency across the years may well be a case of improper registration of the crime at the Police Station.
Background
In the previous story, we discussed at length, the cruel practice of trafficking young boys aged below 10 years to UAE, to serve as Camel Jockeys and the human rights abuse involved in the sport.
When we came to know about the brutalities suffered by children of our neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Pakistan serving as camel riders, we decided to dig deep and find out about the impact this sport had on Indian Children.
The research that started out to understand the issue of child trafficking for Camel Racing in India took us to a whole new unexpected territory, which will be discussed in this article.
The Peculiar Turn of Events
The data pertaining to kidnapping (for the purpose of camel racing) was in the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) records. To get a better picture of the issue and the prevalence of this crime in India, an RTI application was filed with the Ministry of Home Affairs which was in turn routed to NCRB.
We requested for information about the number of cases registered under ‘Kidnapping for the purpose of Camel Racing’ under IPC section 363 listed year wise, state wise, age wise, and gender wise. We requested the data for the period since camel racing was categorised as a crime subhead under IPC section 363. We were provided with data from 1999 till 2014.
The following data was provided by NCRB.
Note: No kidnapping cases for the purpose of camel racing were registered for the years 2001 to 2006, and in 2009, hence those years are excluded from the table.
What does the Data tell us?
Incongruence of the data with the purported crime
The genesis of trafficking and abuse of little boys (aged below 10) as camel riders is due to the sole fact that the speed at which a camel can run is greatly determined by the weight it has to carry and to ensure that camels can run their best, the lightest or smallest riders are preferred. This is why boys below 10 years are the victims of trafficking for camel racing.
But the data at hand suggests otherwise, 91 of the 92 who were kidnapped were women, that too in an age group of 18-50 years, which is definitely not the age group sought by the camel owners for camel jockeys.
To be sure of our premise that only little boys are used as camel riders in competitive races, we researched extensively to find any source that talks of girl camel riders and also spoke various experts. True to our premise, neither did we find any source that spoke of girl camel riders in competitive races nor did any of the NGOs and activists hear of any girls/women being trafficked for camel races. We also didn’t come across any instance of adults being used as camel jockeys in competitive races.
This raises serious questions about the veracity of the NCRB data related to Kidnappings, further deepening and confirming our suspicion that the data maybe inaccurate. In 2005, UAE backed by UNICEF banned child jockeys and launched an intensive rehabilitation & repatriation programme. Owing to the ban and also due to the increased use of light weight robots as jockeys, child trafficking for camel races saw a sharp decline. But as per NCRB data, in 2012 (post the ban by UAE), there has been a sudden rise in the number of cases compared to all the previous years.
Summing up, firstly, the universal and consistent trend of demographics pertaining to victims of trafficking for camel racing has not been consistent with the Indian data.
Secondly, the timeline of the occurrence and spike in the crime is also inconsistent with global data and trends.
These two reasons are good enough to conclude that the NCRB data in this context may be inaccurate.
Why this Inaccuracy?
There could be three possible explanations for the inaccuracy in data which are detailed below.
1. Improper definition of the crime – Kidnapping for the purpose of Camel Racing
Kidnapping under IPC section 363 is classified under various subheads based on the purpose of the kidnapping i.e., Camel racing, begging and prostitution etc. Each subhead, when categorized, has to be defined by the law properly. In the sense, it has to be clearly defined as to which action constitutes ‘kidnapping for begging/camel racing’ and how it is different from other sub heads. Since reporting data under a particular category is at the discretion of the Police at the lowest level, there is every possibility of arbitrariness creeping into the system.
From the data, it is clear that, in almost all cases across years, women have been listed as the victims. This improper repeated registration of adult women as victims of ‘camel races kidnapping’ makes us wonder if the crime has been defined properly in the first place.
2. Negligence (or) Purposeful improper registration of crimes by the Police
As discussed, there is enough scope for discretion in the registration of such crimes. It could simply be a case of negligence on part of the police officials in registering the cases. It could also be that the Police purposefully registered the cases improperly, possibly even creating a cover up for a far more serious crime.
Women kidnapping and trafficking has been a grave problem that has been plaguing India for a while now. The fact that the almost all the victims in this case are adult women and are in a vulnerable age group, makes us believe that these cases could possibly be instances of trafficking of women for prostitution, forcible marriage, ransom or even begging which otherwise have been registered as kidnapped for camel racing.
The following table captures the details of punishment awarded to different types of kidnapping cases
Point to be noted here is that kidnapping under IPC section 363(under which the camel races cases have been booked according to NCRB data) entails a maximum punishment of 7 years with fine, while crimes of women trafficking under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention act (1956) or IPC section 370 entails a maximum punishment of 14 years with fine, and under IPC section 364A kidnapping to murder levies a maximum punishment of Death penalty or Life.
So, there is also every possibility that these cases registered under camel racing were in fact cases of women trafficking (or) kidnapping for ransom disguised and improperly registered as kidnappings for camel racing so as to help the perpetrators escape a higher quantum of punishment.
3. Improper Data Records
The following is the flow of data from the Police Station to the NCRB. NCRB uses a template that has to be filled out by authorities at each level which finally reaches NCRB.
There are three levels at which the data is compiled and transferred to the next level before it finally reaches NCRB. This is a very manual process with the onus of data accuracy clearly with the officials at each level. If any negligence creeps in at any level, the data is compromised and errors simply percolate upwards.
Assuming this is true, officials who were responsible to compile and collect the data made a mistake in documenting the kidnappings for 8 years repeatedly and also managed to falsely attribute 70 cases in 2012 alone.
Incidentally, this is not a standalone case where NCRB data was questioned. The Accidental Deaths and Suicides India (ADSI) Report of 2014 reported that farmer suicides witnessed a dramatic fall of 67% in the last five years. This created uproar among activists, journalists and other stakeholders. Going a step further according to ADSI 2014, the three big farming states West Bengal, Bihar and Rajasthan reported zero farmer suicides.
Implications of Inaccurate Data
If any of the above assumptions is true, then there are grave implications of such data inaccuracy.
When inconsistencies crop up, we take refuge in facts and try to find answers. But here in this case ‘facts’ have left us with more questions than answers. Either or all of the possibilities could be true or could be false, but we can only speculate the probable scenarios. The only fact this research establishes beyond doubt is that there are systemic errors that have to be taken care of and taken care of at the earliest.
The 92 kidnappings for Camel Races reported across 8 years might not be a pressing issue, but digging deeper, the implications of such improper registration of cases has to be dealt with very urgently.
Author’s Note: The author would like to add that, many efforts were made to understand the presence of the supposed flawed data. We got in touch with women’s rights activists in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to inquire and understand if there were any instances of trafficking for girl camel riders. None of the activists had heard of any sort of women trafficking/kidnapping for camel racing. We also spoke with law makers and police officials to get a better picture of the mystery this data began to become, and they replied in negative as well.

created: September 1, 2015


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Child Marriages in India - A more visible form of child abuse
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 7, 2015
Child marriage is the worst form of exploitation. Worst because, it happens right in front of our eyes, sometimes in the name of tradition, sometimes in the name of patriarchy and sometimes in the name of security and future of the girl child.
The Planning commission published a report on Child marriage in November, 2014. The report was based on a study that was conducted in 10 states (Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat & Orissa) and on previous research reports by other organizations. In each selected state, 2 districts have been randomly selected from the list of districts reporting high rate of child marriages. The sample size comprised of victims of child marriages, parents, representatives of Panchayats, community based organizations (CBO), Self Help Groups (SHG) and officials.
Child marriage as a global phenomenon
According to this report, globally more than 60 million women were married before they reached age of 18 years. Although, the extent of child marriage varies substantially between countries, about half of the girls who were affected live in South Asia. One in seven girls in the developing world marries before 15. Nearly half of the 331 million girls in developing countries are expected to marry by their 20 birthday (as per data in 2004). According to figures available from 2007-08, about 43% of women in India are married off before the age of 18 which is the legal age for marriage.
So what is the situation in the 10 selected states?
As per the data available from 2007-08, the percentage of women who were married before the age of 18 was significantly high in Bihar (68.2 per cent) followed by Rajasthan (57.6 per cent), Jharkhand (55.7 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (54.9 per cent) and West Bengal (54.8 per cent). These percentages were comparatively lower in Gujarat (35.4 per cent) and Orissa (37.5 per cent).
Were the offenders aware of the Child Marriage prohibition Act?
The parents were asked whether they are aware about the Child Marriage Prohibition Act. About 3/4th respondents reported that they are not aware about the Child Marriage Prohibition Act. This was found more pronounced in Uttar Pradesh (80.2 per cent). Only 23 percent respondents were aware of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act.
What are the main reasons for early marriage?
The main reasons of early marriage for both male and female children vary. Parents of daughters reported that the main reasons for early marriage of their girls are safety and security problems of girls, traditional system, pressure from relatives, economic hardship and poverty as well as demand of dowry. The parents of boys reported that the main reasons for early marriage of their boys are pressure from relatives and family members, traditional system, economic hardship and poverty as well as land ownership related issues.
There are many ways in which the early marriage changes the lives of the children. From increased family pressure to start earning to start having babies, the effects of pregnancy on the girl child are very devastating.
What does the report finally say?
Hence there is a great need to create awareness about the ill effects of the early child marriages and also about the legal implications of the early child marriage.
Featured Image Source: Sam Nasim | Flickr


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‘CHILDLINE’ (1098) helpline was started nearly two decades ago, not recently by PM Modi. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 13, 2019
A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that PM Modi announced a child helpline (1098) for the benefit of children in various crisis situations. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
1098 child helpline announced by PM Modi.
Fact: The child help line (‘CHILDLINE’) was started nearly two decades ago as a field action project at TISS. Currently, the CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF) is the mother NGO for managing this helpline and gets funded under the Child Protection Services by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. So, an already existing helpline is being promoted as something PM Modi has recently announced. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When searched about the helpline on Google, the official website of ‘CHILDLINE 1098’ can be found in the search results. On the website, it can be found that “CHILDLINE 1098 is a 24-hour a day, 365 days a year, free, emergency phone service for children in need of aid and assistance”. In the ‘Our Story’ section, it can be read that the helpline was started nearly two decades ago as a field action project of the Department of Family and Child Welfare, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Formed in 1999, CHILDLINE India Foundation was granted the exclusive ‘Nodal Mother NGO’ status, in 2006-07, by the Ministry of Woman and Child Development to set up CHILDLINE services across the country. So, an already existing helpline is being promoted as something Modi has recently announced.
Similar posts about the helpline went viral previously with the claim that it is a helpline to pick up the food leftovers. The fact-check article written by  FACTLY debunking that claim can be read here.
To sum it up, ‘CHILDLINE’ (1098) helpline was started nearly two decades ago, not recently by PM Modi.
Did you watch our new Episode of the DECODE series?

created: November 13, 2019


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Children were sitting in the car trunk as there was no space in the car, not because they were kidnapped - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 26, 2019
Few photos are being shared on social media with a claim that these are active child kidnapping groups in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Photos of children being kidnapped in Odisha.
Fact: Two photos in the post are related to an incident in Haryana where a family was stopped by the locals on the suspicion of kidnapping children and taking them in a car trunk. It was later found that the children belonged to that family and were sitting in the car trunk as there was no space in the car. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the photos in the post were run through Google Reverse Image Search, a photo was found in an article published by ‘Dainik Bhaskar’. According to that article, the children in the car trunk were not kidnapped. They were just sitting in the car trunk as there was no space in the car. The door of the trunk was kept open for air and was tied to the window as a safety measure. Some locals, who saw the children in the car, stopped the family and called the police.
Another photo in the post is also related to the same incident and can be found in the article by ‘Punjab Kesari’. A video was also taken during this incident which can be seen here.
The context of the other three photos in the post cannot be ascertained, as they were not found on the internet.
To sum it up, children were sitting in the car trunk as there was no space in the car, not because they were kidnapped.
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No, China did not launch an artificial Sun into orbit, viral visuals show a Rocket launch. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 17, 2022
A social media post accompanying a video is being widely shared across social media platforms with a claim that the video shows China’s launch of the artificial sun into the sky. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing China’s launch of the artificial sun into the sky.
Fact: As part of its plan to launch an artificial Sun, China has recently conducted a nuclear reactor test which resulted in the nuclear fusion reactor sustaining a temperature of 158 million degrees Fahrenheit (70 million degrees Celsius) for 1,056 seconds (approximately 18 minutes). This is higher than the temperature in the sun. However, this was a controlled experiment conducted in a laboratory. China did not launch the artificial Sun into orbit. The viral visuals are related to a recent rocket launch. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
According to news reports (here & here), recent experiments revealed the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) Nuclear Fusion Reactor, also known as Artificial Sun, had delivered a temperature of 158 million degrees Fahrenheit (70 million degrees Celsius) for 1,056 seconds (approximately 18 minutes). This is higher than the temperature normally provided by the sun.
‘The ultimate goal of EAST, located at ASIPP in Hefei, is to create nuclear fusion like the Sun, using deuterium abound in the sea to provide a steady stream of clean energy’, said Gong Xianzu, a researcher at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), who is in charge of the experiment.
However, this was conducted in a controlled environment and China did not launch the artificial sun or the reactor into orbit. This news of nuclear reactor attaining high temperature is misconstrued as China launching an artificial Sun and was shared on social media along with an unrelated video.
What about the Viral Video?
Google search with relevant keywords revealed that China had recently launched Long March-7A rocket from the Wenchang Rocket Laboratory, which carried two satellites, Xian-12 01, and Xian-12 02 into orbit.
China launched a Long March-7A rocket to place two satellites in space on Thursday. The rocket blasted off at 6:12 p.m. from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in S China's Hainan Province and soon sent Shiyan-12 01 and Shiyan-12 02 satellites into preset orbit. pic.twitter.com/hNiVgxG8wE
Visuals of this rocket launch can be seen here. In this video, we can observe the outline (shape) of the exhaust gases released in the form of a huge white cloud as the rocket ascends, similar to the outline (shape) of the exhaust gases in the viral video.
The rocket launch was carried out from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Longlou town. Google search yielded few news articles (here & here) which have published images of a beach, close to the rocket launch station, from which the launch can be viewed. The location in these photos bear resemblance to the location in the viral video.
Usually, when a rocket is launched into the sky, the visuals of the launch depict a fireball rising into the air just like the scenes in the viral video. Few other visuals of a rocket launch which depict a fireball rising can be seen here and here.
Although we could not independently verify that the viral video shows a recent March-7A rocket launch in China, the above-mentioned details are evidence enough to conclude that the viral video does not show the launch of artificial Sun by China.
To sum it up, China did not launch an artificial Sun into orbit, viral visuals depict a rocket launch.

created: January 17, 2022


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China did not quote Indian opposition parties while blocking UN bid against Masood - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 16, 2019
An image has been shared by a Facebook user claiming that the reason given by China for blocking the blacklisting of Masood Azhar at the UN Security Council is that the opposition parties in India do not consider Masood Azhar a terrorist. . Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
The archived version of the post can be found here.
China blocked the blacklisting of Masood Azhar saying that how can they believe him to be a terrorist when opposition parties in India themselves do not consider him as a terrorist
China has asked for more time to examine the sanctions while blocking the sanctions against Masood at the UN Security Council. Nothing was mentioned about the opposition parties in India. Hence the claim made in the post is
When searched for ‘China delays UN bid to blacklist Masood’ on Google, a link to an Aljazeera article on this topic can be found in the search results. According to the article, China has told the UN Security Council that it needs some time to examine the sanctions, so it has kept a ‘technical hold’ on the bid. There was no mention of the views of opposition parties in India. Also, when searched for the support of Indian political parties to Masood, no specific news was found.
Finally, China did not mention the views of political parties in India while blocking the sanctions against Masood Azhar at the UN Security Council.


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Chinese did not dance to the ‘Jai Ho’ song in this video - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 24, 2019
A video is being shared widely on social media with a claim that it shows ‘Jai Ho’ song from the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, choreographed by the Chinese. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Video of ‘Jai Ho’ song choreographed by the Chinese.
Fact: The video is related to ‘Spring Festival Gala 2019’ event. In the original video, the Chinese were not dancing to ‘Jai Ho’ song but doing martial arts to some other music. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the screenshots of the posted video were run through Google Reverse Image Search, videos with similar visuals were found in the search results. In a video upload by CGTN on YouTube, it can be read that the video is related to ‘Spring Festival Gala 2019’ event. Also, on watching the video, it can be found that the Chinese were not dancing to the ‘Jai Ho’ song but doing martial arts to some other music. In the description of the video, it can be read that the performance was ‘presented by Henan Shaolin Tagou Martial Arts School, “The Soul of Shaolin” features traditional Chinese martial arts.’
To sum it up, in the video, the Chinese did not dance to the ‘Jai Ho’ song. It is an edited video.
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created: October 24, 2019


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Chitra, the runaway child in this story is not Sudha Murthy - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 15, 2022
A post is being shared on social media, which is said to be the story of a runaway girl named Chitra who receives help from a woman named Usha. The post claims that the girl Chitra in this story is Sudha Murthy. Let’s fact-check the claim in this article.
Claim: Chitra, the runaway girl who gets rescued by a woman named Usha in the story is Infosys chairperson Sudha Murthy.
Fact: This story is an excerpt from the non-fiction book written by Sudha Murthy titled ‘The day I stopped drinking milk.’ In this book, Sudha Murthy writes stories of people that she met and has known over the years, and are said to be recollections of her experiences as a teacher, writer and a social worker. In the first chapter titled ‘Bombay to Bangalore’, she writes about a girl named Chitra, whom she rescued during her journey in a train. Chitra is not Sudha Murthy as the post claims. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To know the veracity of the story, we searched the internet with relevant keywords and found a blogpost about this story. The post contained a story of a girl named Chitra whom Sudha Murthy rescues in Udyan Express on her way to Bangalore. The post mentions that this story is from a book titled ‘The day I stopped drinking milk.’
We went through a PDF copy of this book which is available on the internet and came to know that this is a non-fiction book written by Sudha Murthy based on her life experiences.
The first chapter titled ‘Bombay to Bangalore’ is a story of a runaway child named Chitra. Sudha Murthy purchases a ticket for the girl when a Ticket Collector catches her travelling without a ticket.
She later joins Chitra in a shelter home in Bangalore. Chitra grows up to become a Computer Science Engineer and moves to the US.  Years later when Sudha Murthy attends a meeting in San Fransico to deliver a lecture, she meets Chitra.
The story in the viral post is also similar to this one, and it even mentions that the story is from her book “The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk” except that it claims the child Chitra is Sudha Murthy. It is clearly an altered version of the story ‘Bombay to Bangalore’ written by Sudha Murthy.
To sum up, Chitra, the runaway child in this story is not Infosys chairperson Sudha Murthy.

created: September 15, 2022


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Making video of 'Chocolate apple candies' is shared as visuals of artificial apple production in China - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 18, 2022
A video is being widely circulating on social media claiming it as the visuals of artificial apple production in China. This video shows a few workers in a manufacturing company adding red colour to the yellowish items that look like apples. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of artificial apples manufacturing process in China.
Fact: The video shared in the post was first published by a Tik Tok user named ‘@cacao_ing’. This video shows the manufacturing process of chocolate apple candies in China. The Chinese give these candies as Christmas or Valentine’s Day gifts for their loved ones. These chocolate apple candies are available on all Chinese e-commerce websites. The apples in the video are not the real ones. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, an extended version of this video was found posted on a YouTube channel named ‘Cool Booms’. In the extended version of the video, we could see the visuals of these red coloured apple-shaped items packed in a gift box with ‘Merry Christmas’ written over it. This YouTube channel credited the video to a Tik Tok user named ‘@cacao_ing’.
As the ‘Tik Tok’ application is banned in India, we used the ‘Tor’ VPN browser and managed to find the original video on the ‘@cacao_ing’ Tik Tok handle. This user had shared this video on 03 December 2021 with a description, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas – Merry Christmas”.
When we searched for more details of this video, a similar photo of a red apple-shaped item packed in a Christmas gift box was found on the Chinese e-commerce website ‘Taobao’. This website described the item as ‘Creative hollow apple chocolate candy for boyfriend and girlfriend’. The Chinese give these candies as Christmas or Valentine’s Day gifts for their loved ones. These chocolate apple candies are available on all Chinese e-commerce websites.  They can be seen here and here. Also, on one of the websites, it can be clearly seen what lies inside the chocolate apple. So, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post shows the manufacturing process of chocolate apple candies, not artificial apples.
However, there are also other types of ‘candy apples’, that are made using real apples. The making process of candy apples by dipping real apples into different varieties of syrups can be seen here, here, and here.
To sum it up, a making video of ‘Chocolate apple candies’ is shared as visuals of artificial apple production in China.
Update (22 July 2022):This article has been updated to include details of other types of ‘candy apples’, that are made using real apples.

created: January 18, 2022


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Will the new Civil Aviation Policy help reach the air traffic goals?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 17, 2016
The union cabinet has approved the new Civil Aviation Policy to be effective from the second quarter of this financial year. Among other things, the new policy talks about a Regional Connectivity Scheme to make use of the unused airstrips across the country and extend affordable air travel to the common man. To fund the scheme, the policy proposes to establish a Regional Connectivity Fund, to be financed by a levy on airfares.
The union cabinet has now approved the new  ‘National Civil Aviation Policy’, 2016.  The vision of this policy is to create an eco system, to enable 30 crore domestic tickets per year by 2022 which stands at around 7 crore in the year 2014-15. The policy in its mission statement mentions safe, secure, affordable and sustainable air travel with access to various parts of India and the world.
Air Passenger Traffic in India
The passenger traffic in the country has been steadily growing at an average rate of more than 8% in the last five years, except in 2012-13. In this period, India has registered the fourth fastest growth in passenger traffic after Japan, Brazil and China. As per data available with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the domestic passenger traffic has grown from 53.8 million in 2010-11 to 68.4 million in 2014-15, a growth of more than 27%. Except for the dip in 2012-13, the domestic passenger traffic has continuously increased year after year. The international passenger, on the other hand has grown from 35.1 million in 2010-11 to 45.6 million in 2014-15, a growth of more than 42%.
Important parts of the Policy
The new policy covers the following major issues.
Regional Connectivity
The policy proposes a Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) to be effective from the second quarter of 2016-17.  The crux of the policy is to ensure that the all inclusive fare for a one hour flight on RCS routes shall not exceed Rs 2500 per passenger. This is in line with the vision of the policy to increase the domestic passenger traffic by fourfold in the next 7 years from about 7 crore to 30 crore.
The policy proposes a set of four different measures to be adopted for the implementation of RCS.
The policy mentions that only 75 out of 450 airstrips/airports have scheduled operations as on date.  The revival of these unused air strips as per demand is to be done by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at a cost of 50 to 100 crore.
The policy also puts the onus on state governments to reduce VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) to 1% or less if the state governments wish to extend the RCS scheme to airstrips within their states.
The policy also proposes a set of subsidies by the Government of India for the scheduled commuter airlines (SCA) flying to RCS locations. The proposed subsidies include the following for a period of 10 years.
VGF will be shared between Ministry of Civil Aviation and the State Government in the ratio of 80:20. For the North Eastern States, the ratio will be 90:10.The payment of the full amount of VGF will be made to the airline operator from the Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF) and the State Governments will be subsequently asked reimbursement.
How does the Government propose to fund this Scheme?
In the policy, the government has proposed a Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF). This RCF will be funded by a levy (cess) on all domestic routes other than Category II,  RCS routes and small aircraft below 80 seats irrespective of the routes. The Aircraft Act of 1934 authorizes the government to levy such a cess. The policy also proposes easy entry and exit options for carriers into the RCS.
The revenue accrued to the government from service tax on Air Travel was about 2877 crore in 2013-14.  Considering these numbers, a levy of 2% may not yield more than 3000 crore to the government.
Will these steps help improve the Air Passenger Traffic?
In terms of the domestic air passenger traffic, the scheme itself may not help more than 20000 to 30000 passengers a day, or about 1.2 crore passengers per year at best, based on the current data. To reach the target of 30 crore domestic ticketing by 2022, the passenger traffic has to grow upwards of 25% every year. At the current growth rate, these numbers look impossible. Whether such a growth will be fuelled by the RCS remains to be seen.
Other proposals in the Policy
The policy also proposes to encourage the use of civilian helicopters and charter operations to attract high end tourists. According to the new policy, India currently has less than 300 civilian helicopters, less than 25% of what Brazil has (over 1300).  The policy also talks about skill development for the aviation sector and better security systems among other things.
Featured Image: By José Luis Celada Euba [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons


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Claim That an Auto Driver was Allegedly Attacked Over Voting for BJP in Karnataka is False. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 17, 2023
A viral video circulating on social media claims that an auto driver and his auto in Karnataka were physically attacked for voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent assembly elections in the state. In this fact-check article, we will examine the authenticity of this claim.
Claim: An auto driver was thrashed for voting for the BJP in the recently held assembly elections in Karnataka.
Fact: The auto driver in question is Harish Rao Gorpade, and the incident occurred in Shimoga. Initial news reports on this incident suggested that a group of strangers attacked Harish for voting for the BJP. However, Harish later clarified to the media that his friends had actually damaged his auto after a confrontation at a bar. He explicitly stated that he never claimed to have been thrashed for voting for the BJP. Therefore, the claim made in the viral post is False.
Although the incident shown in the viral video was initially reported as the auto driver being attacked for voting for the BJP, which is the claim of the viral post, we found out in our investigation that the post picks only one part of the whole incident, and there was more to it.
According to the initial news reports (here, here and here ), Harish Rao, the auto driver featured in the video, went to the Shimoga district SP office to report the damage to his auto, stating that some strangers attacked his vehicle for voting for the BJP. It was reported that K S Eshwarappa, a BJP leader present at the SP office, provided Harish with ₹20,000 in financial assistance for vehicle repair and medical expenses.
However, Harish Rao later clarified to the media that he was not assaulted for voting for the BJP.
As the Mangalorean reported, he stated that he never claimed to have been beaten for voting for the BJP. Instead, he explained that he and his three Muslim friends had gone to a bar together, and during a fight among the friends, the auto’s top and glass were broken. Harish Rao went to the SP office to complain about the incident, which had no political motive. Harish Rao stated that his friend, Aamir, claimed the attack was politically motivated, and he distanced himself from that statement. Other news reports on the clarification given by Harish here, here and here.
To sum up, based on Harish Rao’s clarification, the actual cause of the auto damage was a dispute among friends and had no connection to politics.


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Claim that Japanese people don't buy goods made in the U.S. is False - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 16, 2019
A post has been shared by a Facebook page claiming that Japan citizens do not buy anything that’s made in the U.S. as they were bombed by the U.S in 1945. The post has been shared by a few people and some also commented on the post saying that the claim made in the post is false. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
The archived version of the post can be found here.
As the U.S. bombed Japan in 1945, Japanese citizens do not buy even a needle from the U.S. today. This is called real patriotism and unity.
Japan was the fourth largest export market for the U.S. in 2017. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When searched for ‘US-Japan Trade’ on Google, a link to the Office of U.S. Trade Representative webpage can be found in the search results. According to information provided on the webpage, the amount of trade between the countries was around US$ 280 billion in 2017. Japan imports from the U.S. were around US$ 114 billion worth of goods and services (Goods – US$ 68 billion and Services – US$ 46 billion). Some of the goods imported by Japan from the U.S. in 2017 were machinery, optical and medical instruments, aircraft, mineral fuels, and electrical machinery.
Finally, Japanese people buy goods made in the U.S. In 2017, Japan was the fourth largest export market for the U.S.


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Claim that packaged drinking water 'Dew' killed 180 people in Tanzania is a Hoax - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 20, 2023
A message circulating on social media alleges that a brand of bottled water called ‘Dew,’ imported from Tanzania, caused the deaths of 180 people due to the presence of a poisonous chemical. This article aims to fact-check this claim
Claim: Bottled water brand ‘Dew’ is lethal and has caused 180 deaths in Tanzania.
Fact: This claim has been debunked previously. The ‘Dew’ brand of bottled water did not cause 180 deaths in Tanzania, and this is a long-standing hoax. Hence, the claim made in the post in False.
To confirm the authenticity of this claim, a keyword search was conducted on the internet to find information about the ‘Dew’ brand of bottled water. No significant reports were found regarding the introduction of such a product in India or its alleged ill effects.
Further investigation led to a news report published on the GhanaWeb news website in 2011. The report stated that the Nigerian Food and Drugs Board (FDB) dismissed the rumours of the ‘Dew’ water causing 180 deaths in Tanzania as false. The FDB conducted a thorough investigation and communicated with the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Tanzanian Bureau of Standards to reach this conclusion.
Further, the NAFDAC responded by stating that the ‘Dew’ water had been registered in Nigeria since 2005 and that there were no incidents of hospitalizations connected to the consumption of this water.
Furthermore, the renowned fact-checking organisations including, ‘Snopes,’ has debunked (Hoax-Slayer, Africacheck) this claim. According to Snopes, this message is of unknown origin and was identified as a hoax.
In conclusion, there is no truth to the claim that consuming ‘Dew’ brand water results in health hazards. This is a viral hoax that has been debunked several times before.

created: October 20, 2023


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Claiming Medical Expenditure under Sec 80DDB of the IT Act made easy - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 23, 2015
In continuation of the commitment made during the Budget Speech of 2015-16, the government has now made certain changes to the process of claiming medical expenditure under Sec 80DDB of the IT Act. The process has been made easier now.
In his budget speech for the year 2015-16, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced certain benefits in claiming medical expenditure under section 80DDB of the Income Tax Act (IT Act).  He announced increase in the limits of the amount that can be claimed under this section.
This particular section allows a deduction for expenditure incurred on treatment of specified ailments for self or a dependent.  The government has now issued a notification amending rule 11DD of the IT Rules making it easier to claim such expenditure.
Claiming Medical Expenditure under Sec 80DDB
Under this section, the assessee will now be allowed a deduction of actual amount or Rs 40,000 (whichever is less) in case of normal citizens for certain ailments. These limits are higher for Senior & Very Senior citizens as noted below.
The following ailments or diseases will be eligible for the purpose of this section
Process made easier
The government has now issued a notification amending rule 11DD of the IT Rules making it easier to claim such expenditure. Earlier, the prerequisite condition for claiming expenditure under this section was obtaining a certificate from a specialist working in a Government hospital. Now this condition is relaxed and henceforth, it will not be mandatory to obtain a certificate from a specialist working in a Government hospital.
As per the amended rules, it will be enough if the certificate is obtained from a doctor with a relevant Doctorate of Medicine (DM) degree recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
If the patient is receiving the treatment in a Government hospital, the prescription or certificate  may be issued by any specialist working full-time in that hospital and having a post- graduate degree in General or Internal Medicine or any equivalent degree, which is recognized by the MCI.
The Prescription or the certificate issued should contain the following,
Featured Image: By Mercurywoodrose (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

created: October 23, 2015


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Claims suggesting that Syrian singer Sariya al-Sawas has children with different husbands from multiple nationalities are untrue - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 17, 2023
A social media post claiming that Sariya al-Sawas, a Syrian singer, has children with different husbands from various nationalities is doing rounds on social media platforms. The post has a picture of Sariya al-Sawas, standing alongside four children. It further states that her eldest son is from her Emirati husband, her daughter on the right is from her Lebanese husband, her younger boy is from her Yemeni husband, and her younger girl is from her Saudi husband. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image of Syrian singer Sariya al-Sawas with her four children born to different husbands from various nationalities.
Fact: The original image shows Sariya al-Sawas standing alongside only three children. The image of a boy in thawb is digitally added to the original image. Sariya al-Sawas had clarified that the two girl children in the viral photo are her two daughters, and their father is Syrian, whereas the boy child is her nephew. She further ridiculed the rumour about her multiple marriages. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral image indeed shows Syrian singer Sariya al-Sawas, standing alongside her children. However, she did not have children with husbands from different nationalities, as alleged in the viral post.
A search on Sariya al-Sawas’s official Facebook page led us to a post, dated 14 December 2019, through which she addressed the viral claim and provided clarification. In this post, she shared the same viral picture, but it shows only three children, suggesting that the fourth child shown in the viral image has been digitally added.
Sharing the picture, she noted that the boy in the picture is her nephew, whereas the two female children are her own daughters, all of them are Syrian citizens. She further ridiculed the rumour of multiple marriages.
As reported by a news agency, Sariya al-Sawas posted an Instagram story, denying the rumors that she married three Arab nationals. Sharing the same viral photo of her with three children, she reiterated that the boy child is her nephew, whereas the two girl children are her daughters, and their father is Syrian.
Earlier in 2018, rumors of  Sariya al-Sawas marrying Iraqi MP Talal Al-Zawawi went viral on social media. However, speaking to the media, Talal Al-Zawawi denied the rumors as baseless and categorically stated that he had never met the singer in his life. This implies that rumours surrounding Sariya’s marriage are unfounded.
To sum it up, claims suggesting that Syrian singer Sariya al-Sawas has children with different husbands from multiple nationalities are untrue.


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Clearing the air on Tendered Votes & other special cases
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 8, 2019
There was a barrage of fake news
recently on the issue of ‘tendered’ & ‘challenge’ vote.  While these terms exist in the election
lexicon, they mean something else than what is conveyed in those viral posts.
There was a barrage of fake news recently on the issue of ‘tendered’ & ‘challenge’ vote.  While these terms exist in the election lexicon, they mean something else than what is conveyed in those viral posts. Here is a detailed look at all these special cases.
The case of ‘Tendered’ votes
Impersonation of voters is a realpossibility during elections and the concept of ‘Tendered’ vote is to tacklesuch situations.
As per ‘Rule 49P’ of the ‘The Conduct of Elections Rules,
1961’, if a personrepresenting himself to be a particular elector (voter) seeks to vote afteranother person has already voted in his place, he/she has to satisfactorilyanswer any such question posed by the presiding officer related to his/heridentity. If there is a satisfactory answer, the presiding officer does notallow him to vote through the EVM, but supply him with a tendered ballot paperwhich shall have the same details as on the EVM.
Before the tendered  ballot paper is supplied, the voter has to has to enter his name in form 17B. Once he receives the ballot paper, he can cast his vote with a ‘X’ mark on the ballot paper in the voting compartment. He has to fold the paper and hand it over to the presiding officer. The presiding officer then has to place this ballot paper in a cover specially kept for this purpose.
The record of such tendered votesalso has to compiled in form 17C.
What happens to these ‘Tendered
Votes’?
As per ‘Rule 56’ of ‘The Conduct of Elections Rules,
1961’, the tenderedvotes are not counted during the normal counting process. In other words, thecover containing these tendered ballot papers shall not be opened duringcounting and shall not be counted.
The tendered votes will only be counted on the directions of a competent court (the High court or the Supreme court) when an election petition is filed under ‘Section 83’ of ‘The Representation of the People Act, 1951’.  An election petition can be filed by the voter of a particular constituency whether or not he has voted or by a contesting candidate.
The Supreme Court has also laid downthe following conditions that constitute reasonable groundsfor tendered votes to be counted, in ‘Wilfred D’souza Vs. Francis
Menino Jesus Ferrao’.
Is there a recent case involving
Tendered votes?
One of the recent cases where tendered votes played a role was elections to the Nathdwara Legislative Assembly constituency in Rajasthan in the year 2008, where Congress’s C P Joshi lost to BJP’s Kalyan Singh Chouhan by a mere one vote. C P Joshi filed an election petition in the Rajasthan High Court with a plea that tendered votes be counted and to remove the votes of Kalyan Singh’s wife since she voted twice in the same constituency. After a long drawn court battle, the Rajasthan High Court in 2012 ruled that the tendered votes be counted and that votes cast by Singh’s wife be excluded from the count. The court also declared the election of Kalyan Singh as void. The case then went to the Supreme Court which favoured the counting of tendered votes, but set aside the High Court direction of declaring the election as void. Eventually, the counting resulted in both the candidates getting the same number of votes and Kalyan Singh was declared elected through a toss.
How many ‘Tendered Votes’ were cast in the 2014 Lok
Sabha Elections?
As per information available with the Election Commission of India (ECI), a total of 4482 tendered votes were cast in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In other words, this is less than 0.0001% of the total valid votes cast in those elections. The highest number of such tendered votes were cast in Maharashtra (1922 out of 4482) or more than 40% of the total such votes. Rajasthan & West Bengal are the only two other states where more than 400 such votes were cast.
What about other types of Votes?
There are other special situations that a voter can encounter in thepolling booth. Here is a round up.
What if there is a wrong print on
the VVPAT?
When the voter makes a compliantthat there is a wrong print on the VVPAT slip against the button pressed on theEVM, here is the process followed.
Voter from the ASD list
In order to prevent impersonation of Absentee, Shifted and Dead Voters, whose names continue to appear in the electoral rolls, list of such voters (ASD List) is prepared polling station wise and provided to the concerned Presiding Officer. If any person listed in the ASD list turns up for voting, his identity has to be verified thoroughly before allowing the person to vote. It has to be noted that the names of these voters still appear on the roll and are not deleted. The voters whose name is not on the roll cannot vote.
The case of a ‘Challenged Vote’
The polling agent present inside the booth may challenge the identity of any voter by depositing a sum of Rs. 2/-  with the presiding officer. The presiding officer then holds an inquiry into this challenge. If the challenge is not established after the inquiry, then the voter is allowed to vote. However, if the challenge is established, the voter is not only debarred from voting, but also handed over to the police along with a written complaint.
Declaration by the voter in the case of enquiry about
his age
If the presiding officer considers a voter much below the qualifying age of 18 years, he has to satisfy himself about the identity of the voter. He also has to obtain a declaration about the voter’s age as on 1st January of the year of reference and inform the voter about the penal provisions in case of any wrong declaration. In addition, the presiding officer has to prepare a list of such voters from whom such a declaration has been obtained.
What about those who do not wish to vote after coming
to the polling booth?
There could be voters who do not wish to vote after coming to the polling booth. Many of them might prefer NOTA, but there could still be a few who may refuse to vote. In such cases, the presiding officer has to put a remark ‘refused to vote’ in the register of voters and he has to sign below the remark. The number of such voters has to be mentioned in form 17C.


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Clip from a Street Play Falsely Portrayed as Real Incident of Muslim Men Killing RSS Supporter in Kerala - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 22, 2023
A video that appears to show a woman being shot dead is being shared on social media with the claim that she was an RSS supporter killed by Muslims in Kerala. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of a Woman RSS supporter getting shot by Muslims in Kerala.
Fact: Viral video does not show any real incident. It is a clip from a street play that was performed in September 2017 in Kerala’s Malappuram district by the members of DYFI. This street play aimed to portray the story of Gauri Lankesh, who stood against right-wing groups and allegedly met her demise at their hands. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon conducting a reverse image search of the keyframes extracted from the viral video, we traced the full video back to the Facebook pages DYFI Kulikavu MC & CPI(M) Cyber commune, where it was originally posted in September 2017. The description of the videos clearly indicated that it was a street play intended to portray the alleged involvement of the RSS in the assassination of the journalist Gauri Lankesh.
The street play portrays the story of a woman (Gauri Lankesh) who fought against the RSS and was allegedly killed by them. The play denounces the RSS, citing historical incidents like the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the murders of Kalburgi and Govind Pansare. It emphasizes the need for Hindus, Muslims, and Christians to unite against the RSS and champions secularism and democracy.
The translated text of the full street play goes like this:
*Masked men shoot down a woman*
Lead Actor: She was a fighter. She kept fighting. She raised her voice against the RSS. Finally, the RSS killed her as well. She has been killed. Tie him up. Why? Why did you kill this journalist?
Actor who killed the woman: We are RSS workers, Nationalists.
Lead Actor: Didn’t you hear this? RSS betrayed the Indian freedom struggle. They shot Mahatma Gandhi dead. That is RSS. Silence is dangerous. This silence of yours- when fascism is peeping even into your kitchen- is dangerous.
Actor 1: Yes, silence is dangerous.
Lead actor: RSS, which eliminated almost 2000 people belonging to minority communities in Gujarat. RSS, which shot dead Kalburgi and Govind Pansare. They eliminate those who write and speak out.
Lead actor: When RSS fascism, with knives swords and guns, targets me and you, what is the solution? What is the solution to resist the RSS?
Actor 2: There, that is the solution! (Pointing to the DYFI flag)
Lead Actor: Yes, that is the solution. For Hindus and Muslims to come together, to question the RSS, here, DYFI’s white flag, which rose up inspired by Bhagat Singh who declared in the parliament that India’s Independence is more important than his own life. Under this white flag, Hindus, Muslims and Christians will come together. Let’s shout Inquilab Zindabad. RSS get lost. Death to fascism. We have to live here. Let RSS be ruined. We will bury it under six feet of soil. Secularism long live. Democracy long live…
Crowd: Inquilab Zindabad. RSS get lost. Death to fascism. We have to live here. Let RSS be ruined. We will bury it under six feet of soil. Secularism long live. Democracy long live…
Various media outlets, including Hindustan Times, The News Minute, and News18, reported on this video in 2017. These reports clarified that the video clip was part of a street play depicting the enactment of the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh. Gauri Lankesh was tragically shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru on  05 September 2017, reportedly by a member of a radical right-wing group.
To sum it up, the video in question is old, clipped footage from a street play that is now being circulated and falsely presented as a genuine incident of Muslim men killing an RSS supporter in Kerala.


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Clip from an upcoming web series shared as real visuals of police personnel killing a couple - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 14, 2021
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as visuals of a couple being shot dead by police personnel in broad daylight. This post claims it as a true incident that portrays the misuse of power by police. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a couple being shot dead by a police officer.
Fact: This video clip of a person in police uniform shooting a couple in public is part of the shoot of an upcoming web series, that took place at Karnal city in Haryana. It is not a true incident. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots shared in the video, a video with similar visuals is found in a tweet by a UP police officer, Rahul Srivastav. Rahul Srivastav clarified it as a video clip from a web series shooting in Karnal, Haryana. In the tweet, he stated that ‘On verification, it’s attributed to a web series shot outside ‘Friends CAFE’ in Karnal Haryana as per the manager of the cafe’. On searching for Karnal city ‘Friends CAFE’ on Google Maps, we found a similar view of the coffee shop in search results. Also, when the same video was shared on social media, UP Police through a tweet clarified it as the video clip from a web series.
#FactCheck– A video of a gory murder by a cop outside a restaurant is floating since today morning on #socialmedia, triggering queries & confusion.
On verification, it’s attributed to a #webseries shot outside ‘Friends Cafe’ in Karnal Haryana as per the manager of the Cafe. pic.twitter.com/63GHkScx9j
Karnal Breaking News, a local media channel reported the complete details of this video on their Facebook page. In the video, Karnal SP Ganga Ram Punia reiterated that a scene shot for the web series is falsely shared on social media as a true incident. ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ published an article on  Karnal SP Ganga Ram Punia’s clarification on this viral footage.
BOOM, a fact-checking organisation independently contacted Vinay Kohad, the person who played the cop’s role in the viral footage. The clarification issued by Vinay Kohad could be found in the fact-check article published by BOOM. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is not a true incident.
To sum it up, a clip from an upcoming web series is being shared as real visuals of a couple being shot dead by a police officer.


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Clipped India TV’s fact-check video is falsely shared as Sharukh Khan donating 45 Crore Rupees to Pakistan - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 31, 2020
A video clip of news channel ‘India TV’ is being widely shared on social media with a claim that Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan has donated 45 Crore Rupees to Pakistan Oil tanker blast victims. In the posted video, the news anchor reads out the Facebook posts put by various users, in which they criticize Sharukh Khan for the donation and goes on to tell that Sharukh hasn’t made any donation to any mishaps or accidents in India. Let’s try to analyze the authenticity of the video.
India TV telecasted news that Bollywood Actor Shahrukh Khan donated 45 Crore Rupees to Pakistan Oil tanker blast victims.
Fact: The video is a clipped version of India TV’s fact-check video. In the original fact-check video, India TV has debunked the same claim and concluded that Shahrukh has not made any donation to Pakistan Oil tanker blast victims. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When searched with the keywords shown in the video, the full version of the video was found on the YouTube channel of ‘India TV’. In the video, the channel has fact-checked posts on social media that went viral in 2017 claiming that Shahrukh Khan has donated 45 Crore Rupees to the victims of Pakistan Oil tanker blast. The channel debunked the claim and concluded that Sharukh Khan’s Media Team has clarified to them that such news is baseless and Sharukh Khan hasn’t made any donation to the victims of Pakistan Oil tanker blast. In the Fact-check video, the news reporter has also read out the instances in the past when Sharukh Khan took up charitable activities in India and made donations to the victims of natural disasters in the country.
On 25 June 2017, an Oil tanker has overturned and exploded at Bahawalpur in Pakistan, leading to the death of more than 150 people. More information about the accident can be read here.
To sum it up, India TV’s fact-check video was clipped to falsely claim that Sharukh Khan has donated 45 Crore Rupees to Pakistan Oil tanker blast victims.
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Clipped video of a short film falsely shared as people arguing with Punjab's AAP MLA - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 3, 2023
A video of a group of people arguing and fighting with a person who is being alleged as an AAP MLA in Punjab is being shared widely on social media. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Visuals of AAP MLA in Punjab getting into an argument with the locals.
Fact: The viral video is a small clip from a short film uploaded by a YouTube channel named LOK AWAZ PUNJABI. They make fictional entertainment videos, of which this short film is one. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral video contains a watermark which reads ‘Lok Awaz Pubjabi’. Taking a cue from this, we searched the internet using the keywords Lok Awaz Punjabi to learn more about the viral video. This led us to a YouTube channel with the same name, which contained a full version of the viral clip, which matched the viral clip from 2:29 to 3:38.
According to the title of this video, it is a short film, and the video’s description even contains the credits of the actors and the technical team. Also, as per the description of the YouTube channel, Lok Awaz Punjabi makes these videos for entertainment purposes and to bring awareness among people about social evils.
To sum up, a clipped version of a short film is being falsely shared as a real incident of people arguing with a local AAP MLA of Punjab.

created: February 3, 2023


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Clipped version of an informative video on the minimum height required for Indian Army selection is passed off as real - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 13, 2022
A video is shared on social media where a man is seen disqualified for an Indian Army selection because of his height. The post’s description in Hindi translates to ‘he was rejected because he could not meet the required height standard..it feels terrible, sir..‘ The video implies this incident happened at the Indian Army selection camp. Let’s verify this video through this article.
Claim: A man gets disqualified in the Indian Army selections because of his height.
Fact: The viral video is an informative video made by a YouTube channel named ‘Indore Physical Academy’, which uploads Defence training videos. The viral video is a short clip made from one such video uploaded on this channel regarding the minimum height required for the Indian Army soldier selection. Hence the claim made in the video is MISLEADING.
Running a keyword search on the internet led us to a similar video on Facebook. The video is titled ‘Indian Army Height Measurements GD 170 CM‘, and its host Jitender Singh explains how a candidate’s height is measured during the Indian Army selections.
Jitender also mentions his YouTube channel’s name ‘Indore Physical Academy.’ Using this hint, we looked for the extended version of the viral video and found it on Indore Physical Academy’s YouTube channel, which has around 12 Million subscribers.
In this video which is titled ‘Territorial Army Height Measurements GD 160CM लम्बाई,’ the man who gets disqualified in the viral video can be seen, and the viral video is a small portion of this video. The viral video contains parts of this video from 8 seconds to 28 seconds.
Jitender Singh pulls out a man from the line and tells him that the minimum height requirement is 170 cm and he will not be qualified for the Indian Army (General Duty) for the post of a soldier, but he can apply for the Territorial Army (as a soldier), which according to him has a minimum height requirement of 160 cm.
This is an educational/informative video made by the ‘Indore Physical Academy’, which according to the channel’s description, is a Defence training academy. ‘Indore Physical Academy’ regularly uploads videos related to Defence training on their YouTube channel. With this evidence, we can conclude that an informative video is being shared as an actual incident that occurred during the Indian army selections.
To sum it up, a clipped version of an informative video on the minimum height required for the Indian Army selection is passed off as real.

created: October 13, 2022


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Clipped video is being shared claiming PM Modi disrespected former President Ram Nath Kovind - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 26, 2022
A social media post accompanying a video purportedly showing Prime Minister Modi ignoring former President Ram Nath Kovind while he greets Modi with folded hands is going viral on social media. The video is being shared with a claim alluding that Modi is disrespecting the former President. Also, the same video is also being shared with a claim that the visuals show Modi’s obsession with photos. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals showing PM Modi ignoring Ram Nath Kovind while he is greeting him.
Fact: The visuals are from former President Ram Nath Kovind’s farewell event. However, PM Modi did not disrespect Kovind by ignoring him during the event. In fact, Modi and Kovind greeted each other. This part showing both greeting each other is clipped out and only the part where Modi looks at photographers is being shared. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The viral visuals are from former President Ram Nath Kovind’s farewell event organised in Parliament central hall on 23 July 2022. However, Prime Minister Modi did not disrespect Ram Nath Kovind by ignoring him when he greets him.
As the viral video carried a logo of Sansad TV, Google search with relevant keywords yielded the original footage which carried the viral visuals on Sansad TV YouTube Channel.
This full-length video shows Ram Nath Kovind walking down the podium and greeting the guests with folded hands. At the 59th second of this video, Kovind greets Prime Minister Modi after which Modi also greets back.
After greeting Modi, Ram Nath Kovind moves forward and talks to a woman standing behind Modi. At this moment, Modi appears to be looking at the photographers. It is clear that the viral video was created by editing out the part where Modi & Kovind greeted each other.
Official Twitter handle of the Rashtrapati Bhavan also shared few images from the event. One of these images clearly shows Modi and Kovind greeting each other.
President Ram Nath Kovind attended the farewell function in the Central Hall of Parliament today.
Details: https://t.co/cu7Gsg4wGj pic.twitter.com/CvCZzgwdDZ
To sum it up, a clipped video is being shared claiming Modi disrespected former President Ram Nath Kovind.


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Clipped video is shared as UP CM Yogi Adityanath stating government officials were not answering his phone calls - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 9, 2022
A video through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that government officials were not answering the calls of UP CM Yogi Adityanath. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video report showing Yogi Adityanath’s complaint that his calls were not answered by government officials.
Fact: The video is from 2020 and is not a recent one. The video had been clipped from a longer video, where CM Yogi Adityanath was upset that officials were not answering the calls of public representatives. Yogi Adityanath said CMO (Chief Medical Officer) in Kanpur should apologise to BJP MLC Arun Pathak and MLA Abhijeet Singh Sanga as concerned officials were not answering the calls of these public representatives. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
There is a logo of R9 News on the top-right corner of the video. When we searched with relevant keywords, in the R9 News’ official YouTube channel, a longer video was found with similar visuals. The YouTube video is not a recent one as it was found uploaded on 26 September 2020. The viral video had been clipped at 1:13 timeframe and shared as a 12-second-long video, without the full context.
If one listens to this more than 4-minute-long video, one could understand the context of CM Yogi Adityanath’s words. CM Yogi Adityanath says that the CMO (Chief Medical Officer) in Kanpur should apologise to BJP MLC Arun Pathak and MLA Abhijeet Singh Sanga as concerned officials were not answering the calls of these public representatives.
The CM, who was upset for receiving complaints that officials were not answering MPs’ and MLAs’ calls, asked them to apologise to the concerned parties, who were Bithoor BJP MLA Abhijeet Singh Sanga and BJP MLC Arun Pathak. These comments were made by Yogi Adityanath at a review meeting held for developmental projects of Kanpur district on 24 September 2020.
To sum it up, this clipped video is falsely shared saying that government officials were not answering the phone calls of UP CM Yogi Adityanath.


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Clipped video of a Condor warming up before flying shared with a misleading claim - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 25, 2022
Video of a giant bird flapping its wings standing at the edge of hill and surrounded by a group of spectators is being widely shared on social media, claiming that the bird was released from the cage zoo after many years and forgot how to fly. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a bird which was released from cage after so many years and forgot how to fly.
Fact: The bird seen in the video is Andean Condor. In 2012, the condor was found close to death in Catamarca (Argentina) after being poisoned by the ranchers. It was freed by rescuers in Argentina after its treatment in 2014. The full video shows the bird flying seamlessly into the skies. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When the screenshots of the video were subjected to reverse image search technique, a certain keyframe was found in an article of ‘The Dodo’. According to this article, the bird seen in the video is an ‘Andean condor’ named ‘Sayani’ and it was freed by rescuers in Argentina after its treatment in 2014. In 2012, ‘Sayani’ was found close to death in Catamarca (Argentina) after being poisoned by the ranchers in the region.
Other articles about the incident can be read here. The complete video of ‘Sayani’ being set free by rescuers can be seen here. In this video, at 4:25 timestamp, Sayani can be seen flying seamlessly.
To sum it up, a clipped video of a rescued Andean Condor warming up before taking flight shared with a misleading claim.

created: October 25, 2022


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Clipped video of a journalist questioning Amit Shah is being shared out of context - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 6, 2022
In light of the BJP’s national executive meeting recently held in the city of  Hyderabad, a social media post accompanying a video of journalist posing some blunt questions to Amit Shah is being widely shared praising the courage of the journalist. In the video, the journalist can be heard questioning Amit Shah on the failure of the central government in providing funds to the state at the time of floods. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of a journalist asking some blunt questions to Amit Shah for not allocating funds to the state at the time of floods.
Fact:  The viral excerpt of the interview is from the GHMC election campaign, that took place in November 2020. However, from the full footage of the interview, it is evident that the journalist himself did not question Amit Shah on central government’s failure to allocate funds to the state at the time of floods, but he paraphrased the allegations levelled against the BJP by the TRS. Only the question part is clipped and being shared as if the journalist himself posed that question to the union minister. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The viral visuals are not related to any recent event but are from the road show attended by Amit Shah back in November 2020, as part of the GHMC election campaign. Search on internet with relevant keywords yielded the actual footage from which the viral excerpt is extracted.
From the full footage of the interview, it is clearly evident that, the journalist used these words in the context of seeking a response from Amit Shah on allegations levelled against the BJP. The journalist just paraphrased the questions posed to the Union Minister by the ruling TRS party.
The full footage of the interview can be seen on ‘V6’ official YouTube channel. 0:39 seconds into the interview, the journalist merely paraphrased the allegation levelled against the BJP, that central government did not allocate any funds to the state at the time of Hyderabad floods.
Following the journalist’s question, Amit Shah responded saying that central government has provided more financial assistance to Hyderabad than all other cities. This part of the interview, wherein the journalist was referring to the allegations of TRS is clipped and only the part of journalist posing a question bluntly to Amit Shah is being shared praising the courage of the journalist. However, from the full footage of the interview, it is evident that the journalist merely paraphrased the allegation levelled on BJP by the TRS.
To sum it up, a clipped video of a journalist questioning Amit Shah during his 2020 GHMC election campaign is being shared out of context.


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Clipped video of a television series is shared as real incident of an Iranian father dancing at his daughter’s grave - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 3, 2022
Amid the ongoing violent protests in Iran over the death of 22-year old woman, a video of a man dancing at the grave is being widely shared on social media with a claim that he is the father of an Iranian woman who was killed at the anti-hijab protests, and he was dancing now because he promised to dance at his daughter’s wedding. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of an Iranian father dancing at her daughter’s grave after her death in anti-hijab protests.
Fact: This video is from the 78 Episode of an Azerbaijani television series ‘Ata Ocağı’ telecast in 2018. It doesn’t show any real incident related to Iran’s anti-hijab protests. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
We searched the internet with relevant keywords and came across a tweet by an Azerbaijani Journalist “Cavid Ağa” on 29 September 2022. While replying to a user who posted this viral video, he says, “This man is an actor I personally know. His name is Gurban Ismayilov and this scene is from a famous TV drama Ata Ocağı (Hearth of Father) aired 4 years ago. https://youtu.be/_CGxBciEWws (starts at 18:40) “
This man is an actor I personally know. His name is Gurban Ismayilov and this scene is from a famous TV drama Ata Ocağı (Hearth of Father) aired 4 years ago. https://t.co/SJP6tNZa0o (starts at 18:40) https://t.co/7gUDDIaxqr
Taking a cue from this, we searched for the video on YouTube and found it to be true. This video was uploaded on 9 January 2018 with a title “Ata Ocağı (78-ci seriya)”, which translates to “Father’s hearth (Episode 78)”. From 19:05 minutes, the character played by Gurban Ismayilov can be seen dancing. The description of the video confirms it as a television series.
To sum it up, a clipped video of a television series is shared as a real incident of an Iranian father dancing at his daughter’s grave.

created: October 3, 2022


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Clipped video of Mallikarjun Kharge’s Speech falsely portrayed as a confession to distribute wealth among Muslims - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 6, 2024
A viral video claims to show the confession of Mallikarjun Kharge, the President of Congress, where he declares that Congress members will plunder homes and share the spoils with Muslims. The clip is being presented as though Kharge is confessing the party’s plans (here & here). This article examines the validity of the claims linked to this video.
Claim: Video showing Mallikarjun Kharge admitting to a Congress party scheme to plunder homes and share that wealth with Muslims.
Fact: Mallikarjun Kharge made these remarks to contextualize Modi’s assertions regarding the ‘हिस्सेदारी न्याय’ or Equity initiative outlined in the Congress manifesto. This segment of his speech was digitally clipped to falsely suggest that Congress plans to distribute wealth among Muslims. He emphasized that such actions would never be undertaken by their party. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral snippet originates from Mallikarjun Kharge’s election campaign in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on 04 May 2024. While Kharge did say these words during the event, it’s important to note that he did not present them as the party’s scheme.
A Google search using pertinent keywords led us to the complete video of Mallikarjun Kharge’s speech at a Congress party rally in Ahmedabad on 04 May 2024. During his address, Kharge discusses various policies and plans outlined in the Congress manifesto. Specifically, at the 21:55 mark, he attempts to explain the concept of ‘हिस्सेदारी न्याय’ or Equity, as proposed in the manifesto.
He attempts to clarify this initiative, stating that it involves conducting a national Socio-Economic and Caste Census to detail the various castes and sub-castes, along with their socio-economic status, including literacy rates, income levels, and per capita incomes.
Continuing, he asserts that Modi is propagating false information about the scheme. Regarding the scheme, Modi is asserting that “Congress members will enter your homes, confiscate all the money, and distribute it among everyone, including Muslims. Those with more children will receive a greater share.”
Furthermore, he elaborates by stating that they have no intention of carrying out the actions Modi is alleging. He emphasizes that it is unjust for Modi to spread such baseless propaganda. He goes onto say that such occurrences never transpired even during the British, Mughal, or Nizam rule, so why would they engage in such behaviour? He questions whether, in their 55 years of governance, they have ever resorted to such tactics. He concludes by expressing bewilderment at why Modi is inciting people with such claims.
He then proceeds to discuss other initiatives detailed in the Congress manifesto. The extended footage confirms that Kharge’s viral statements were in response to Modi’s accusations against the Congress. Moreover, this segment of his speech was digitally clipped to falsely suggest that Congress plans to distribute wealth among Muslims.
The Congress party previously lodged a complaint with the Election Commission regarding similar issues, specifically addressing remarks made by Modi that targeted the Congress party’s policies on wealth distribution.
To sum up, the clipped video of Mallikarjun Kharge’s Speech is falsely shared as a confession to distribute wealth among Muslims.