By Runjay Kumar
A doctored tweet of News 24 channel claiming that actor Swara Bhasker and her husband Fahad Ahmad are expecting their first child in July, five months after their marriage, is viral on social media.
BOOM reached out to Manak Gupta, digital head of News 24, who clarified that the tweet is fake and was not put out by the News 24 Twitter handle.
The tweet screenshot, which has used the logo and Twitter handle of News24, has a text in Hindi "Swara Bhasker is pregnant, her husband Fawad Ahmed has confirmed. The delivery (of the child) will happen in July. The famous actress tied the knot with Ahmad, who is 8 years younger to her only in February." (Original text in Hindi: स्वरा भास्कर हुई प्रेग्नेंट, शौहर फवाद अहमद ने किया कन्फर्म, जुलाई में हो सकती है डिलवरी, इस मशहूर हीरोइन ने फरवरी में ही किया था अपने से 8 साल छोटे फवाद से निकाह) (sic)
The same screenshot is viral on Facebook on several right wing pages with misogynist comments on the actress' pregnancy.
Fact Check
Upon observing closely, we found that Swara Bhasker's husband's name has been misspelt as Fawad Ahmed instead of Fahad Ahmad in the viral tweet screenshot. Further, according to the tweet Ahmad is eight younger to her, whereas, according to news reports, he is four years younger to Swara Bhasker.
Swara Bhasker and Fahad Ahmad got married under the Special Marriage Act of 1954 (SMA) on February 16, 2023. Fahad Ahmad is a Samajwadi Party leader and president of the Maharashtra and Mumbai SP wing.
Further, BOOM scanned through News 24's Twitter handle but was unable to find any tweet related to Swara Bhasker and her pregnancy from May 28, 2023. We found a video on farmers supporting the ongoing wrestlers protest which was tweeted on the exact same time, as seen in the viral tweet's screenshot - 4.47 pm. This shows that the tweet has been doctored.
We also reached out to Manak Gupta, digital head of the channel who clarified that the last tweet on Swara Bhasker was on March 20, 2023.
In a tweet, the handle also debunked the fake viral screenshot.
