Authors
A video showing two girls drinking alcohol in public is being shared widely on social media platforms to take a dig at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the new liquor policy in place since October 01 in Delhi. The two-minutes and twenty-second-long video show two young women sitting in an open public space with alcohol bottles and glasses and appear to be swearing at the men recording the video and asking them what they were up to. Newschecker found the video to be scripted and falsely linked to the new liquor policy implemented by the Kejriwal government.
Under the New Excise Policy 2021, retail liquor businesses in Delhi are handled completely by private players. The capital will have 850 private liquor shops spread throughout the city with some even offering walk-in and tasting facilities.
Twitter users @prakashpandya7 and @RenukaJain6 shared the video by congratulating Kejriwal, ‘for making Delhi liquor capital.’
Warning: Abusive language, viewer discretion is advised.
The video has garnered over 600 retweets and over 40,000 views on Twitter. Archived links to the posts can be seen here and here.
Twitter users @MattooUpender and @SGandoora also shared the same video with captions in Hindi holding the Delhi government’s new liquor policy responsible for the two girls drinking alcohol in public. Archived links to the posts can be seen here and here.
‘Kejriwal opened private contracts in the streets of Delhi. Now look at the girls in Delhi,’ reads the Tweet by user @MattooUpender. (Orginal text: केजरीवाल ने दिल्ली की गली गली मे प्राइवेट ठेके खुलवाऐ अब देखलो दिल्ली की लड़की भी)
Newschecker found the video also on Facebook with similar captions in Hindi (here, here, and here).
Factcheck/Verification
To check whether the video has captured a real incident, Newschecker watched the video frame by frame and found a disclaimer at one-minute and seven-second mark in the viral video which reads, ‘The video is for entertainment and promotional purposes only. It falls under fair use law. We do not wish to make any commercial use. All the contents are intended to showcase the creativity of the artist involved and is strictly done for promotional purpose.’
The video carries a watermark with the following text, ‘Instagram – Mr_thakur1612’ throughout. On searching for the Instagram profile, we found a user named Sunny Thakur who describes himself as an artist in his bio. Newschecker did not find the viral video on his account but found several other scripted videos.
On searching for ‘Mr_thakur1612’ on Facebook, we found a profile named Thakur Prank who posted what appears to be a longer version of the viral video on November 26, 2021.
In the full video, Thakur appears at the end (7:39 mark) and clarifies that the girls seen in the video were actors and that they were not actually drinking.
Further, when Newschecker reached out to Thakur, he confirmed that the viral video was made for awareness purposes and is not related to any political issues.
“You can check my full video. In the end, I confess that the video is not real, it is just an act. Do not believe in false information,” he said.
Conclusion
Video showing girls drinking in public is scripted and the people seen in the video are actors. It has been falsely shared as a real incident and it is misleading to link it to Delhi’s new liquor policy.
Result: Misleading
Our Sources
Full video on Facebook
Direct Confirmation
If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form.
