Unrelated video of 2013 incident falsely shared as ‘Hindu woman marrying son’

What is the claim?

A video is going viral on social media falsely claiming to depict a woman who purportedly married her son after her husband's death. The video, featuring an image of a woman and a boy at the 1-5 and 37-42 second marks, identifies them as Jyoti and Vikas Pathak. However, most other images in the video are unrelated stock photos.

The video was widely shared on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, "Look, Hindus! Vikas Pathak married his mother, Jyoti Pathak, and made her his wife. And you defame Muslims in the name of Halal. Make sure to save the video! (translated from Hindi)." Archived versions of these posts can be accessed here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts. (Source: X/Edited by Logically Facts)

Upon investigation, it was found that the video misrepresented an image from 2013 showing Vijay Kumari and her son Kanhaiya Sharma. Kanhaiya was born while Vijay Kumari was serving a 20-year sentence, but they did not marry each other.

What we found 

While most visuals in the video were generic and unrelated, the specific image at the 0:01 mark showing a woman in a pink saree with a boy in a dark t-shirt actually depicts Vijay Kumari and her son Kanhaiya. A reverse image search led to multiple media reports from 2013 that featured this image along with their real story.

A report by Dhaka Tribune on May 27, 2013, published this image alongside the story of Kanhaiya, the son of Indian woman Vijay Kumari, who facilitated his mother’s release from jail, where she had given birth to him 19 years earlier.

BBC Hindi also reported on May 24, 2013, with the headline 'Son born in jail brings freedom to mother (translated from Hindi),' including pictures of Vijay Kumari and Kanhaiya along with a detailed account.

In the 1980s, Vijay Kumari lived with her family in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. In October 1989, she was accused of murdering a neighbor’s two-and-a-half-year-old child, leading to a five-year trial in Aligarh's lower court. Pregnant at the time, she was subsequently convicted and sent to Lucknow jail.

Vijay Kumari's husband, Kanti Prasad, obtained bail from the Allahabad High Court but couldn't afford the bail bond, delaying her release. She gave birth to a son in jail, named Kanhaiya.

Kanhaiya was placed in a juvenile home in Lucknow at the age of four and moved to the Uttar Pradesh Protection and Rehabilitation Center for Juvenile Boys in Kanpur at 18. The center's chairman, Rehman, noted, “He worked hard to raise funds and secure his mother's release.”

Gulf News published a detailed report on July 12, 2013, recounting how a fellow inmate helped Vijay Kumari connect with lawyer Arvind Kumar Singh from Allahabad after securing bail.

Screenshot of the Gulf News report. (Source: Gulf News)

After Kanhaiya received the contact from Kumari, he contacted lawyer Singh, who agreed to represent them before the Allahabad High Court. In April 2013, the court summoned Kanhaiya, who pleaded for his mother’s release. Despite Kumari already being granted bail in 1994, the court ordered her immediate release due to the outstanding bond amount, directing the state government to compensate her for her time in jail. Vijay Kumari was finally released on May 4, 2013.

According to Gulf News, besides Kanhaiya, Vijay Kumari had two other children – Ravi Sharma, who tragically died from a dog bite, and Chandravati. Her husband has since remarried and severed ties with Vijay Kumari and Kanhaiya.

News18, Amar Ujala, and international outlet Phuket News also covered Kanhaiya’s efforts to secure his mother’s release, but none reported any marriage between them following her release.

The verdict

Our research confirms that the old photographs shared on social media, falsely claiming to show a mother and son, Jyoti and Vikas Pathak, who got married, are incorrect. The image is from 2013 and depicts Kanhaiya Kumar helping secure his mother, Vijay Kumari's, release from jail.