An image is being shared where a girl child can be seen seated with an elderly man. It is being claimed that the man is Shivnath Chaturvedi who is getting married to a 10-year-old orphan girl. Twitter user Sumedh Wahane posted the image and claimed, “Anita, a 10-year-old orphan girl is being married to Shivnath Chaturvedi. How cheap can be the moral values of Manuvadis (followers of ancient Brahmanical treatise called Manusmriti) be? Shame on the priest who carried out the marriage rituals and shame on the people who ate food at this wedding. This man should be in jail, marrying a minor is rape, don’t these brahmins know that?”
[Alt News has not provided links to the image in this report to protect the child’s identity.]
“10 साल की अनाथ बच्ची अनीता का 40 साल के शिवनाथ चतुर्वेदी से विवाह करवाया गया, कैसे घटिया संस्कार है मनुवादियों के और लानत उस पंडित पर जिसने विवाह करवाया, लानत है उन लोगो पर जो भोज खाने गए,इसे तो जेल में होना चाहिए नाबालिक से शादी बलात्कार है ये ब्राह्मण नहीं जानते क्या,” reads the mesage in Hindi.
Several other users shared the image with this claim. Some also claimed that this man got married to the daughter of his cousin brother after his demise. The text inscribed on the image reads, “Behold, the reign of lord Ram has arrived, what about the respect and dignity of Indian women.”
Fact-check
With a reverse search of this image, we found a report by Pakistan’s Baaghi TV published on August 18, 2020.
According to the report, this 10-year-old girl lost her father some years back. The mother of the girl sold her to her 40-year-old cousin brother Tariq Mahmood. At the time of the wedding, the police reached the spot and stopped the child marriage. The incident took place in the Ram Kali area of Bahawalpur district in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Pakistani news channel Ary News published a report on August 18.
Pakistani channel GNN TV also published a video report on this incident. The report said, “40-year-old Tariq Mahmood has been sent to jail. Police are interrogating the people who were witnessing the wedding and who arranged the union. They will also be put behind the bars”.
An image of a 10-year-old girl with a 40-year-old man who was supposed to get married to a minor girl in Pakistan was shared with the false claim that the incident took place in India. They were given fictional names to target the Brahim community.