A video of a woman is going viral across social media, which purportedly shows the woman walking on the water of the Narmada River. Social media users claim that the woman was seen walking on water at Tilwara Ghat in Jabalpur while hailing her as ‘Mother Narmada’.
Claim:
In the viral video, a woman walks across the water. The woman takes each step carefully as someone shoots her walking from a distance.
The video circulated by Facebook user ‘Pradesh Pradhan Bajrang Sena’ is shared with the caption, “Tilwara Ghat Jabalpur. See the miracle of Mother Narmada. In the depths of the Narmada River, where good swimmers cannot swim, in that depth old Narmada is walking and performing rituals.”
The video is viral across social media with similar claims.
Fact Check:
We conducted a keyword search with keywords such as ‘Narmada Woman’ and ‘Walking on Water’. This led us to a report published by ETV Bharat on April 8, 2023, titled, ‘Limit of Superstition! Woman incarnated as Narmada’.
The ETV Bharat report identifies the woman as 51-year-old Jyoti Bai Raghuvanshi, a resident of the Hoshangabad district. The ETV Bharat report also notes that a missing report was filed to locate this woman by her 25-year-old son Naveen Raghuvanshi at Pipariya Road station police station in Narmadapuram district. Reportedly, in this missing persons case, the son has also mentioned that the woman is mentally deranged. The woman’s son notes that his mother was missing from the house since May 9, 2022.
We also came across a report by News18 published on April 10, 2023, titled, ‘Reality Behind Viral Video Of Woman Walking On Narmada River’. The News18 report notes that Jyotibai Raghuvanshi said that she is no saint, nor an “incarnation” of goddess Narmada.
“She has cleared the speculation and revealed that in the viral clip, she was just walking on the banks of the Narmada River. She has also shared that she possesses no magical powers and is just an ordinary woman who left her home around 10 months ago to walk the length of Narmada,” noted the News18 report.
In our Fact Check, we also came across a report by the Times of India published on April 11, 2023, titled ‘Missing MP woman mistaken as ‘Goddess’ after video of her ‘walking on water’ goes viral’. The TOI report also notes that the woman herself says she is no god woman and that she is making a pilgrimage of river Narmada. The TOI report also adds that the woman’s family members say she has been missing from home for the last 10 months and is mentally unwell.
In the TOI video report, a reporter can see the woman being interviewed. At the 0.51 mark, she says she walked through shallow water below knee level.
At the 1.19 mark, the woman notes that her clothes get dry as she prays for 20 minutes after exiting the water. She also asserts, “There is no miracle.” The reporter also asks her about her situation with her family, to which she replies that she wanted to go on a pilgrimage and had no responsibilities at home.
We also came across a report by Dainik Bhaskar published on April 9, 2023, which noted that the water level of the Narmada River is very high in some places and very low in others.
The video was shot from where the water level in the river was very low. The woman was walking on the river bed itself, but she was seen walking on the water due to the low water level. The Dainik Bhaskar report notes that people assumed she was walking on water.
Conclusion:
We found that the viral video is being circulated with misleading claims. The woman seen in the video, Jyotibai Raghuvanshi, was wading through a part of the Narmada River where the water level was very low. She admits to the same and notes that she is no god woman and that there is no miracle. The viral claim is misleading.
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Fact Check
2023-04-12 09:04:43.0
No, This Viral Video Does Not Show A Woman Walking On The Narmada River; Video Circulated With Misleading Claims
