Pak woman Rabiya married her dad? False claim viral with clipped video; misreport by several outlets

A video is viral on social media with the claim that a Muslim woman is getting married to her father. The 26-second clip appears to be a segment of an interview in which the interviewer tells the woman that the Arabic root word for ‘Rabiya’ means ‘four’ and asks Rabiya how is such a coincidence possible that she is the fourth wife to her husband. Rabiya responds to the question by saying that her name is usually assigned to the fourth child of a household. She then adds that she is a second child herself, and therefore sees it quite fitting that she should be married as the fourth wife to someone, to fulfil the meaning of her name.

ABP News, in a now-modified article published on July 9, 2023, shared the same viral claim, calling attention to the woman marrying her father. They had also posted the claim on Instagram, but it has since been taken down.

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In the aforementioned article, ABP News cited a tweet by user @hemirdesai, who had posted the video on July 6 with the same claim, leading to a barrage of derogatory comments on incestuous relationships in Islam. The video came labelled with a caption in Hindi which reads “Apni beti ko hi apna biwi bana aliya (Translation: He has turned his own daughter into his wife)”. (Archive)

Daughter justifying being 4th wife of her father pic.twitter.com/7vOrjGuBDD

— Hemir Desai (@hemirdesai) July 6, 2023

The Twitter-verified news channel Punjab Kesari tweeted a screengrab from the viral video and claimed that the Pakistani woman in the video got married to her own father and became his fourth wife. They also published an article on July 9, 2023, with a sensationalist headline claiming the same. (Archive)

पाकिस्तानी लड़की ने अपने पिता से ही रचा ली शादी, बन गई चौथी बीवी, लोग बोले- तभी इन्हें पढ़ने नहीं देतेhttps://t.co/uRbIxNqjXm#Pakistan #ViralVideo #PakistanGirl #Girlmarriedherfather pic.twitter.com/msDztiMr1I

— Punjab Kesari (@punjabkesari) July 9, 2023

Media outlets Navbharat Times, Amar Ujala and One India Hindi also reported that the woman had married her father.

Hindutva activist Kajal Shingla alias Kajal Hindustani (@kajal_jaihind) tweeted the viral clip of this supposed father-daughter duo, on July 8, 2023. Her tweet said, “Oh God, what did I just hear!”. Her tweet has since amassed more than 3.5 Lakh views, and 1,677 retweets. (Archive)

हे भगवान ये मैं क्या सुन रही हूँ 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/h0dePJdM1N

— Kajal HINDUsthani (@kajal_jaihind) July 8, 2023

Other users, such as @sheshmani_dube, @RealSurya7, @manjeet_dfoodie, and @sharwanmatwa111, also tweeted the video with the direct claim that the woman had married her father.

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The video is also viral on Facebook, with several users sharing the 26-second clip with the same claim.

Fact Check

On the bottom left corner of the viral short clip, the text ‘Zen TV Vlogs’ is visible. Upon searching for the same on YouTube, we came across a Pakistani entertainment media channel, which had posted the full interview on August 1, 2021.

In the video, the interviewer makes it explicit in the very beginning that the woman named Rabiya has been married to the man standing next to her, named Amir, for 10 years. The section of the clip that went viral (3:10–3:38) shows Rabiya talking about how the meaning of her name coincides with the fact that she is the fourth wife of her husband. In a later segment of the video, the interviewer introduces the husband humorously, as being involved in three failed marriages.

The woman in the video is a social media influencer with 2.7 Lakh followers on Instagram. Besides, she has her own website which deals in garments and luxury clothing. Her husband, whose bio on Instagram identifies him as a real estate agent/teacher/influencer, also has close to 54,000 followers.

A Pakistani news channel named Daily Pakistan Global (@dailypakistan) also interviewed this couple on June 11, 2021. In a segment of this video (1:10–1:30), the anchor details the course of their relationship from 11 years back, when Rabiya was a student of the man she is now married to. The couple can be seen later in the video talking candidly about their relationship, which in their opinion often draws attention on the internet because of the 20 years age gap between them.

In a Facebook video uploaded by Pakistani journalist Moin Zubair on May 24, 2021, the couple was interviewed about their marriage. In a segment (7:48-8:32) Rabiya talks about the controversies attached to her marriage, largely owing to the fact that she was a student of the man when they fell in love. The age gap between them has also invited inappropriate remarks on the internet, according to Rabiya.

ABP News, which had initially misreported the matter, later published a fact-check story and explained that Rabiya had not married her father.

Thus a video is viral on social media with users claiming that the woman seen in the video has married her own father, and has become his fourth wife. Alt News found this claim to be false. The woman married her former computer teacher, for whom it was the fourth marriage.

Prantik Ali is an intern at Alt News.