Fact Check: Video of kidnapping, forced marriage in Jaisalmer shared as caste atrocity

Hyderabad: A video of a man going around a fire carrying a woman in his arms in a deserted area has gone viral. An X user shared the video claiming that the man is Puspendra Singh from an upper caste community who kidnapped a Dalit woman and forced her into marriage in the Sankhala village of Jaisalmer.

“Kidnapping and forced marriage of a Dalit girl by an upper caste man in Sankhala village of Jaisalmer. A youth named Pushpendra Singh kidnapped a girl along with 15-20 people. The girl was forcefully taken away from the house and was married off, (translated from Hindi)” wrote an X user while sharing the video.

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Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading as the kidnapper and the victim belong to the same caste.

On performing a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we came across a report by The Indian Express, which carried a screengrab from the viral video published on June 7, 2013. The report is titled “Viral video shows woman in tears as man ‘marries’ her in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer; 3 arrested.”

The newspaper quoted Jaisalmer Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikas Sangwan saying, “Both the man and the woman belong to the same caste and their families were in talks for their marriage. However, the woman’s family eventually backed out and the main accused, Pushpendra, then tried to force the girl into marriage. Both are adults.” It mentioned Pushpendra and his accomplices Abhay Singh and Vikram Singh were arrested and Trilok Singh was detained.

It also mentioned that the FIR was lodged under sections 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc.), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code.

NDTV also reported the incident on June 7, 2023, in a report titled ‘Man Kidnaps Woman In Rajasthan, Carries Her Around Fire To Enact Wedding.’ The channel reported the police saying Pushpendra was engaged to be married to the woman, but the family had called off the wedding. When the accused found out that the woman was going to marry another man on June 12, he first threatened the family and when that did not work out, he abducted the woman and forced her into marriage to defame her.

News 18 and The Times of India reported the incident on June 7, 2023, with the same details.

We also found a post by Jaisalmer police on their X account regarding the incident on June 7, 2023. “In relation to the video going viral on social media, a case has been registered in the police station Mohangarh, Jaisalmer. The main accused has been arrested. The girl has been handed over to her family members. Other accused are being arrested,” read the post.

Hence, we conclude that the claim of an upper-caste man forcibly marrying a Dalit woman is misleading.