This video was staged to raise awareness of illegal dowries in India, director says
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on March 16, 2022 at 09:13
- Updated on March 16, 2022 at 09:20
- 3 min read
- By AFP India
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The clip was shared on Facebook on February 27, 2022.
It has been viewed more than 9,000 times.
The post claims the video shows a couple on their wedding day in a village in Bihar, a state in the east of India.
The post's Hindi-language caption translates to English as: "In Bihar's Darbhanga district, the groom refused to marry for not giving dowry at the time of the wedding."
A dowry is a payment made in cash or kind to a bride’s in-laws at the time of her marriage. It has been illegal in India since 1961 but remains a widespread practice that is rarely prosecuted.
The video shows a couple -- dressed in wedding clothes -- speaking to a man who is recording them.
The groom defends demanding a dowry from his bride's family, saying he works in the government, and his father worked as a teacher.
He says: "We will not get married because the bride's mind and father told us to give us the bike, which we have not got yet, we will not get married until our demand is fulfilled."
The man recording the video responds by saying that if educated people like the groom indulge in such regressive customs, then poor and illiterate people cannot be criticised if they do the same.
"You know that both taking and giving dowry is a crime, and despite knowing that you are still doing it", he says.
Replies to the tweet indicated some users believed the video shows a real-life incident.
"From the look of it, it seems that he is a fourth-grade government job employee. Such grooms and their families should be punished immediately," read one reply.
Another user replied: "Dowry is a great social curse. In Bihar, the government job boy and his family members do not have their feet on the ground."
The same image was shared alongside a similar claim on Twitter here and here; and on Facebook here and here.
Several media outlets also misleadingly reported on the video here, here, and here.
Scripted video
A reverse image search of the video's keyframes found the video was posted here on February 23, 2022 on the Facebook page for Vikram Mishra, who lists himself as a video creator, artist, producer, and actor.
The post's Hindi-language caption translates to English as: "A teacher's son in Bihar created a ruckus on stage demanding dowry and refused to marry."
Below is a comparison of a keyframe from the video in the misleading posts (left) and a keyframe from the video posted on Vikram Mishra's Facebook page (right):
Mishra told AFP he regularly makes scripted videos about social issues.
He said the video shared in the misleading posts was intended to raise awareness about the illegal practice of giving dowries.
He said: "The video was made to raise awareness about problems related to dowries, but people started sharing it as if it were a real incident."
The actors in the video -- Rani and Amit -- also told AFP the video was scripted.
They said: "We have been married to each other in real life and have been working with each other for a long time. We starred in this video to spread awareness [about dowries]."
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