Propaganda accounts are spreading a video of a couple’s wedding ceremony with false claims that it depicts a woman being publicly harassed or linked to the Devadasi system. In reality, the video shows South Indian actress Divya Sreedhar’s second marriage to motivational speaker Chris Venugopal. It has no connection to harassment or any crimes against Dalit women.
Sharing the video on X (Formerly Twitter), propaganda account @seemabodhi wrote, โTill 1950, Brahmins used the daughters of poor Dalits by making them Devdasis, but why were Hindus not in danger at that time?โ (Translated from Hindi).
1950 เคคเค เคเคฐเฅเคฌ เคฆเคฒเคฟเคคเฅเค เคเฅ เคฌเฅเคเคฟเคฏเฅเค เคเฅ เคฆเฅเคตเคฆเคพเคธเฅ เคฌเคจเคพ เคเคฐ เคฌเฅเคฐเคพเคนเฅเคฎเคฃ เคเคจเคเฅ เคฏเฅเคเคผ เคเคฐเคคเคพ เคฅเคพ,,
— Seema Budh (@seemabodhi) February 26, 2025
เคฎเคเคฐ เคเคธ เคธเคฎเคฏ เคนเคฟเคเคฆเฅ เคเคคเคฐเฅ เคฎเฅเค เคเฅเคฏเฅเค เคจเคนเฅเค เคฅเคพ๐ค pic.twitter.com/pMbfKhMvTf
Serial fake news peddler and propagandist account @AsianDigest also shared the video and wrote, โReligious institutional prostitution called Devdasi still exists in India today where Hindu priests sexually abuse girls who become sex women.โ
Several other users, influencers and propagandists have also disseminated the video and made similar claims. Their posts can be seen here: @Karishma_voice, @kavitima, @CrimeReportsIND, @BasavanIndia.
The truth about the video of marriage circulated with misleading claims, Fact Checkย
As soon as the posts containing the video and claims came to our notice. Subsequently, we conducted research and analysis of the video. We found that the video was from the marriage of South Indian actress Divya Sreedhar and Motivational speaker Chris Venugopal.
To verify the claims made by propagandists. We performed a reverse image search of some keyframes from the viral video using Google Lens. This led us to several media reports and initial social media posts (1, 2) containing the same visuals. According to reports (1, 2, 3, 4), the video depicts the marriage ceremony of South Indian actress Divya Sreedhar and Motivational speaker and actor Kris Venugopal. As per reports, they married in October 2024.
Therefore, it is evident from verified sources that the video was unrelated to harassment and crimes against Dalit women.
2999
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) February 26, 2025
ANALYSIS: Misleading
FACT: Propaganda accounts are circulating a video of a couple's wedding ceremony, falsely claiming that it shows a woman being publicly harassed/Devadasi system. In reality, the video features South Indian actress Divya Sreedhar's second marriage (1/2) pic.twitter.com/kMN6wCK0C7
Intent
Propagandists are circulating videos from marriage celebration with misleading claims to target a particular community.
Conclusion
Claim– The video depicts a Brahmin individual or priest involved in inappropriate behaviour with a Dalit girl.
Fact– The video is related to the wedding ceremony of South Indian actress Divya Sreedhar and Motivational speaker Kris Venugopal.
Related Article: Brahmin being harassed by police in Kanpur? : Fact
