Fact Check: 2017 video of Akshay Kumar falsely linked to assault on Kuki women in Manipur

Hyderabad: A video of a Bollywood actor speaking against the mistreatment of women is going viral on social media, with users linking it to the recent video of sexual assault on Kuki women in the violence-hit Manipur.

A Facebook user shared the video with the caption, “Akshay Kumar on #Manipur viral video on our 2Kuki sisters.” Several others also shared the video making the same claim.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false.

We ran a keyword search and came across an NDTV article from January 5, 2017, titled “Akshay Kumar's Video On Bengaluru Molestation Has Gone Viral.” It said that the actor had posted a video expressing his outrage over the molestation of women in Bengaluru on New Year’s Eve of 2017.

The report also carried the video tweeted by Akshay Kumar on January 5, 2017. “The Bangalore incident makes me feel we r evolving backwards, from humans to animals, rather beasts coz even animals are better! Truly shameful. (sic)” read the caption.

The viral clip appears in this video at the 0.36-second time mark. He can be heard saying, “I am ashamed to be a human being today. I was returning from my New Year’s vacation with my four-year-old daughter in my arms when I learnt about the molestation incident in Bangalore. I don’t know how you all feel about it, but my blood started boiling. I am the father of a girl child but even if I was not one, I feel if a society cannot respect its women, it doesn’t deserve to be called a humane society.”

He also advised women that they should not consider themselves inferior to men and learn self-defence.

However, it is true that Kumar has strongly reacted to the video of the assault from Manipur. On July 20, he took to Twitter and wrote, “Shaken, disgusted to see the video of violence against women in Manipur. I hope the culprits get such a harsh punishment that no one ever thinks of doing a horrifying thing like this again.”

Hence, we conclude that the viral video of Akshay Kumar is from 2017 and is being falsely linked to the atrocity committed in Manipur.