CLAIM

Heartbreaking! In A Shocking Incident, Mother In UP Throws 5 Children Into River. She said that she had no food for… https://t.co/RUrTvNO2r8 — Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) 1586698798000

ये वो देश तो नहीं....दिहाड़ी मज़दूर...ना काम, ना रोटी क्या करें मॉं...बच्चों को गंगा में बहा दिया..In A Shockin… https://t.co/utoO18ER2b — punya prasun bajpai (@ppbajpai) 1586705587000

Unable to feed her 5 children thanks to the lockdown, woman in Bhadohi, East UP, throws them into the Ganga river.… https://t.co/7DKPB1w2qp — Shivam Vij (@DilliDurAst) 1586701409000

UP में एक दिहाड़ी मजदूर माँ ने अपने 5 बच्चों को नदी में फेंककर आत्महत्या की कोशिश की. लॉक डाउन की वज़ह से वह बच्चों… https://t.co/KXDozyIZDa — Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) 1586703541000

TRUTH

VERIFICATION AND METHODOLOGY

@bhadohipolice मंजू देवी ने अपने 05 बच्चों को भूखमरी के कारण गंगा नदी में नहीं डुबाया है।अन्य कारण द्वारा घटना को… https://t.co/xYiKtW8pzq — BHADOHI POLICE (@bhadohipolice) 1586717348000

VERDICT

Activist, lawyer and former Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan shared a news report to claim that a woman in Uttar Pradesh (UP) was forced to drown her five kids since she was unable to feed them due to the nationwide lockdown imposed to combat the spread of coronavirus The news report Bhushan shared was titled ‘With no food to eat during lockdown, mother in UP throws 5 children into river’.“Heartbreaking! In A Shocking Incident, Mother In UP Throws 5 Children Into River. She said that she had no food for her children & that she was a daily wage earner & her work stopped during lockdown (sic),” tweeted Bhushan.Sharing the same news report, journalists Punya Prasun Bajpai and Shivam Vij made similar claims.Activist Kavita Krishnan tweeting a video saying, “A daily wage mother in UP attempted suicide by throwing her 5 children into the river. She was unable to feed the children due to the lock down. @cpimlliberation Looked at the pictures and videos on the handle of the poor today, playing a plate against hunger in the village settlements of the country, expressing outrage (sic).”While putting out her views in the video, Krishnan did not share link of any news report to back her claim.The woman did not drown her kids into the river since she couldn’t feed them because of the ongoing lockdown. She had an altercation with her husband, following which she took the extreme step.Using relevant keywords, we found a news report from Times of India dated April 12, 2020 around the same incident.Titled ‘UP: Woman throws five children into Ganga after quarrel with husband’, the report mentions that a woman in UP’s Bhadohi allegedly threw her five children into the river Ganga following an argument with her husband.Bhadohi Police, from its verified Twitter handle, shared a video clipping of the same woman named Manju Devi giving a statement. As per the video tweet, she did not drown her five children in the Ganges river due to hunger. The crime was carried out due to another cause.“It is clear from Manju Devi's statement that children were not drowned in the river due to hunger,” tweeted Bhadohi Police.The news report shared by Bhushan, Vij and Bajpai to make their own claims, mentioned that the woman seemed mentally unstable to police officials.The report, however, also quoted sources to state that the woman and her children were not getting food in the lockdown and money inflow had stopped because she was a daily wage earner.This report is credited to news agency IANS which put out incorrect version of the story. The same version was shared by many mentioned above, who have refused to delete or correct themselves despite correct version reported by news agency PTI and Bhadohi Police.Times Fact Check has found that an incident of a woman throwing her five kids into a river following an altercation with her husband was falsely passed off as one where the woman was forced to do this due to lockdown hunger and distress.