Fake news: Kerala government arrested a Sabarimala child protester - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
1st December 2018 / 5:41 pm / Last updated: 18th March 2019
“ఈ #అమ్మాయిని కేరళ గవర్నమెంట్ #అరెస్ట్ చేసింది కారణం ఏంటి అంటే #అయ్యప్ప కోసం పోరాటం చేసింది అని. Rip ra pinarai (Kerala Government has arrested this girl, what’s the reason? reason being she was fighting for Lord Ayappa – translated)”
The above photograph has circulated on social media with the narrative that this little girl was arrested by the Kerala goverment. A Facebook page, హిందూ హిందుత్వం – Hindu Hindutvam has shared the photo with the aforementioned text. The message suggested that this young girl was ‘fighting’ against the Supreme court judgement allowing entry of women of menstruating age in the Sabarimala temple.
Several other individuals on Facebook and Twitter have shared this image with this narrative. One more Facebook page, Wise Indian Tongue – WIT has also shared the photo with a message, “Baby arrested. RIP PINNIYARI Commie govt.. be safe dear.”
Using the Google reverse image search tool, Alt News found the same photo posted on a website, Sharestills.com. According to her profile, Akshara Kishor is a child artist who has worked in several Malayalam television serials and films.
The same image which is now being shared on social media was also posted on the official Facebook page of Akshara Kishor on November 9, 2017.
Posted by Akshara kishor on Wednesday, 8 November 2017
The child artist can also be seen in a video posted on YouTube wearing the same attire. The get-up was part of a devotional song on Lord Ayyappa.
Alt News couldn’t find any media reports of her arrest by the Kerala government. Considering that she’s a popular child artist, any such legal action would have made it to both local and national media. Moreover, her official Facebook page is active, with daily updates. There are no posts about her arrest on this page either as alleged on social media.
Thus, the narrative circulated on social media is fake. Of late, Sabarimala has become a focus of misinformation. Alt News has chronicled several instances of misinformation surrounding the Sabarimala issue which was circulated by mainstream media and social media after the Supreme Court verdict.
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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