Misleading image: Bachchans lift bier of their domestic staffer - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
27th June 2019 / 9:48 pm / Last updated: 27th June 2019
On June 27, Punit Goenka, MD & CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprise Limited (ZEEL), tweeted an Economic Times article titled, “Humility counts: Big B, Junior Bachchan pay last respects to domestic staffer”. The article carried an image where Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan can be seen lifting a bier.
This speaks so much about the man and his values! Respect. Prayers and thoughts with the domestic staffer’s family. https://t.co/Sb6kSzu8d1
— Punit Goenka (@punitgoenka) June 27, 2019
Other media outlets of The Times Group like India Times and Times of India have published articles with the same narrative that the Bachchan’s paid last respects to a domestic staffer.
Times Now went a step further and reported that “the bier was of their 40-year-old domestic staffer who died in Mumbai.”
This image is also shared on Facebook with an identical context.
Multiple people posted queries on Alt News’s WhatsApp number, asking us to verify the image.
Alt News found that the image now published by multiple media outlets of The Times Group is an old and unrelated picture. The picture originally belongs to an incident where the Bachchans were lifting the bier of Amitabh Bachchan’s secretary Sheetal Jain earlier this month. It was also shared by Amitabh Bachchan himself via a blog post on his official Tumblr account.
Sheetal Jain was also the producer of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, a Bollywood movie that starred Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda. Jain died on June 8, 2019.
Sad news: Mr. Sheetal Jain is no more. He passed away this morning. pic.twitter.com/g2lcF61WXk
— Komal Nahta (@KomalNahta) June 8, 2019
In conclusion, an image of Amitabh Bachchan and his son carrying the bier of his secretary was picked-up by the media and misreported as the Bachchans lifting their domestic staffer’s bier.
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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