Photo of mother-son duo falsely viral as Hindu woman marrying her son

A video is viral on social media with the claim that a man named Vikas Pathak married his mother, Jyoti Pathak, after her husband died in an accident three years back.

The voice-over narration in the video claims that after the passing of her husband, Jyoti Pathak became depressed and refused to talk to anyone. Further, it is narrated that the woman had spoken about her need for a ‘friend’ or a ‘partner’. Eventually, she thought it best to get married to her son.

This X post, by user @AmjadAsR, draws attention to the inappropriateness of the alleged marriage between the mother and son, and points out the hypocrisy of Hindus defaming Muslims on the basis of the similar allegation.

देखो हिन्दुओ विकास पाठक ने अपनी माँ-ज्योति पाठक से शादी करके बीबी बना लिया!😮

और तुम हलाल। के नाम पर मुसलामानों को बदनाम करते हो 🤮

सूचना= वीडियो सेव जरूर कर लेना!! pic.twitter.com/xKGKnqcAk4

— NATION MUSLIM 🇾🇪 (@AmjadAsR) June 23, 2024

Another verified X account, @Voice_OfMuslim, posted the video with the same claim. At the time of this article being written, the post has amassed 1.29 Lakh views, and more than 2,000 retweets.

विकास पाठक ने अपनी माँ-ज्योति पाठक से शादी करके बीबी बना लिया…

ये ट्विट Repost करके उन अंधभक्तों तक पहुंचाए जो हलाला पर गलत बयानबाजी करते है… pic.twitter.com/D7YoB6giAR

— Voice Of Indian Muslim 🇮🇳 (@Voice_OfMuslim) June 23, 2024

Fact Check

We noticed that the viral video comprised only one picture of the man and the woman. On running a reverse image search on this photo, we came across this article from February 2022, published by Outlook India. The article mentions that the woman’s name is Vijay Kumari, and her son is Kanhaiya.

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According to the article, Vijay Kumari, who was implicated in a murder case in Kanpur in 1993, languished in prison for 20 long years, until her son, Kanhaiya, secured his mother’s release by paying the bail amount in 2013. Vijay Kumari was pregnant when she got involved in the case. She had given birth to her child in prison.

We ran a relevant keyword search to corroborate this finding, and came across several other reports published by prominent news agencies, like BBC News, Times of India, CNN, The Daily Star, International Business Times, New York Daily News, among others, which narrated the story of Vijay Kumari’s long imprisonment, despite having secured bail rights only a year after her conviction. Neither her husband nor her in-laws came to help her out. Kanhaiya worked at a garment factory from the age of 19 and secure her bail after paying of Rs. 5000 as surety.

To conclude, a video is being falsely shared across social media with the claim that a Hindu man by the name of Vikas Pathak married her mother, Jyoti Pathak. In reality, the photo of the mother-son duo dates back to 2013, and was taken after the son, Kanhaiya, had secured the bail release of her mother, Vijay Kumari, after twenty years of imprisonment.

Prantik Ali is an intern at Alt News.