Amidst the persisting violence in the northeastern state of Manipur, a video featuring Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar denouncing the mistreatment of women is circulating on social media platforms, giving the impression that it is his response to the recent incident of two women being mob-molested in Manipur. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video featuring Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar denouncing the recent incident of mistreatment of women in Manipur.
Fact: The viral video dates back to 2017, where Akshay Kumar condemns the mass molestation of women during the New Year celebrations in Bangalore. Despite Akshay Kumar tweeting against the recent incident in Manipur, it’s important to note that the viral video is unrelated to these recent events. Hence the claim made in the post is Misleading.
Following the emergence of a distressing video showing two Kuki women being paraded naked by a mob in Manipur, numerous actors voiced their condemnation of the act. Among them, Akshay Kumar expressed his displeasure over the incident on Twitter, advocating for the harsh punishment of the culprits.
However, we could not find any reports of him expressing his discontent over the Manipur incident, through a video message. The viral video, which has been circulating, is several years old and not connected to the recent incident reported in Manipur. In fact, in the viral video, Akshay Kumar refers to an incident of mistreatment of women in Bangalore.
Continuing our investigation, we came across an old tweet by Akshay Kumar in which he shared the now-viral video of him denouncing the incident of mass sexual assault on women during the New Year’s Eve celebration in Bangalore.
During the New Year’s Eve celebrations on 31 December 2016, numerous women reportedly experienced molestation by a large number of men in and around the junction of Brigade Road and M G Road (here & here). Subsequently, multiple Bollywood actors condemned the incident. The viral video in which Akshay Kumar is critical of the perpetrators is related to this incident. News articles that reported Akshay Kumar’s response to the incident can be read here and here.
To sum it up, an old video of Akshay Kumar condemning the mass molestation of women in Bangalore is being circulated linking it to Manipur incidents.
