A set of photographs of an elderly man and a young woman dressed in wedding attire and wearing garlands is viral on social media. Those sharing these images claimed that a 72-year-old man married a 21-year-old girl. While some claimed that the incident is from Delhi and the adopted young girl had been living and working at the old man's house since childhood, others said that this happened in Chhattisgarh and the two are actually father and daughter.
On July 4, a website named UP Aaj Tak shared the image and said that the "shocking incident" was from Delhi's Lakshmi Nagar area. The accompanying text said that 72-year-old Bharat Singh had adopted a young girl 17 years ago, but after she grew up, he "took advantage of her helplessness and married her." Readers must note that this site is not related to the Hindi news outlet Aaj Tak.
Bhim Army and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) supporter Gulshan Kumar made a similar claim on Instagram. Meanwhile, on X, Minu Meena, Mriganka Singh, Mandeep Rajbhar and Asjad Ali shared the images with similar claims. On Facebook, Arman Mirza, Tania Lal and Speed News were among those amplifying such claims.
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Some social media users, however, shared the same pictures and claimed that a Chhattisgarh resident, Ramkhiladi Mahato, married his daughter to "save her honour". Instagram users Suresh Pachwala, Aryan Yadav, Ramkesh Meena, Mahendra Suman, along with Facebook users Manraj Jagsara and Akash Jareda also promoted the image with the same claim.
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Alt News also received multiple requests on its WhatsApp helpline number [+91 76000 11160] to verify the viral image. According to one of the requests, the incident took place in Uttar Pradesh. The message said that 65-year-old Rambabu married his daughter to save his family's honour because young boys in the neighborhood were eyeing her.
Fact Check
A reverse image search of the viral photos led us to a video from a Facebook page named Vikas Singh on October 26, 2024. The photos are screengrabs taken from this video. We watched the full seven-minute long video, in which the girl pretends to marry the old man to help him reclaim his own house.
We found several clues that indicate this is not a real incident but a scripted video. For one, the Facebook page describes Vikas Singh as a digital creator who makes scripted videos in which he features too.
Secondly, the page had uploaded several similar scripted videos in which the same actors seen in the viral image were also featured.
We found several such scripted videos on Vikas Singh's Instagram page and YouTube channel.
Lastly, Alt News also managed to reach out to Vikas Singh to get clarity on the viral photos and claims. He rubbished the viral claims and confirmed that the video was scripted and made by him. He also identified the woman in the video and the viral images as Gurpreet Kaur, adding that she and her family were quite upset with the false claims.
Singh also told Alt News that the old man in the viral images and video was Amar, who was no longer alive. He passed away recently. He also shared a picture of the old man's death and the link to the scripted video. On July 6, 2025, he had posted about this on Facebook.
Singh also clarified the rumours in an Instagram post.
To sum up, the viral pictures circulating on social media are actually screenshots from a scripted video made by a digital content creator; they do not depict a real incident. Social media claims that this "shocking incident" is from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh or Chhattisgarh are baseless.
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Hello, my name is Ankit Sahu. I'm a 25 year old self-employed Pirate from the Chhindwara.