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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Religion & belief fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about religion & belief. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

3,371 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of Goddess Narmada walking on river without getting drowned

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a viral video said to show Goddess Narmada walking on the river without drowning or getting her clothes wet. The review identifies the woman in the footage as Jyoti Raghuvanshi, a resident of Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh, who was walking through the Narmada River during a pilgrimage—not a goddess performing a miracle. The reported incident took place in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, on 8 April 2023, where the video drew a crowd that believed she was Goddess Narmada. To investigate, FACTLY says it searched online using relevant keywords and found ground reports by the Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar. Its account says Raghuvanshi explained in an interview that the water was shallow, below knee level, and that her clothes dried after she came out of the water to pray. She said there was no miracle involved. This explanation directly addresses the apparent feat in the video: she was walking in shallow water, rather than crossing the river without getting wet or drowning. The review also reports that Raghuvanshi told police she had left home about 10 months earlier to undertake a Narmada parikrama, and that police contacted her family to reunite them. The footage therefore depicts a woman on pilgrimage in shallow river water who was mistaken for a goddess; it does not substantiate the claim that the Goddess Narmada was walking on the river.

FACTLYReligion & belief

The minaret of Mecca appears in a water bottle (Mountain Dew Bottle) in Uttar Pradesh; it’s a miracle

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video said to show the minaret of Mecca inside a Mountain Dew bottle in Uttar Pradesh, with some posts describing the appearance as a miracle. The review examined the reported bottle effect rather than establishing that an actual minaret was inside the bottle. It describes the shared video as showing “a minaret shape appearing inside a cold drink bottle” and says some posts claimed the shape was the minaret of “Mecca Madina.” To test whether the effect required an unusual object or event, the investigators filled a similarly sized Mountain Dew bottle with water and shone light from behind it using a phone flash. They report that a similar shape appeared inside the bottle. The review also says its search for information about crystal replicas found none, though that search result alone does not determine what caused the image. The review’s explanation is that the bottle’s outer surface reflects into the water, producing a shape that can resemble a tower or minaret. Its test supports an ordinary optical explanation for the appearance; the excerpt does not independently establish the location or provenance of the viral video. The review further notes that the resulting shape can vary with a bottle’s characteristics, including its shape, colour, opacity, and size.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of Muslims offering Ramzaan prayers at a railway station in West Bengal

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video said to show Muslims offering Ramzaan prayers at a railway station in West Bengal, with trains allegedly being stopped to allow the prayers. FACTLY identified the location shown as Akra railway station, in the 24 North Parganas District, but said the video had been online since 2021—not newly filmed during the Ramzaan period relevant to the post. To investigate, FACTLY searched for news reports using relevant keywords, then examined the video with InVid to obtain keyframes and ran a reverse-image search. That search led to Facebook posts from 2021 identifying the incident as having occurred at Akra railway station. The station signboard visible in the video supported the location identification. FACTLY said it could not find media reports about the incident and found no recent reports of Muslims offering Ramzaan prayers at a West Bengal railway station. Its evidence therefore supports the distinction between the video’s location and the post’s claim about its timing; the excerpt does not independently establish that trains were stopped for prayers.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Visuals of ‘safe‘ Ram Navami celebrations in Pakistan

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that a video showed Ram Navami celebrations in Pakistan, presenting them as evidence that the festival was “safe” there but unsafe in India. The review identifies the footage instead as a Shobha Yatra by Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar, India. It says the procession was held for Sri Rama Navami on 30 March 2023, making the location and event different from what the post asserted. To investigate, the review searched for the footage using Google, then used InVid to examine the video and obtain keyframes for reverse-image searches. Google Lens helped reveal Urdu text on a keyframe identifying “Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar.” The reviewers also noted a Voice of America News logo and Urdu text on the footage. These clues led them to a VOA Urdu tweet containing similar video and describing a Shobha Yatra by Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar on 30 March 2023. The review further reports that ANI published a video report on the procession and cites a Zee News account describing its route from Zaindar Mohalla through Srinagar, with police and CRPF providing security. Taken together, the identified text and media provenance, along with reporting on the Srinagar procession, support the conclusion that the video was filmed in India, not Pakistan. The review therefore finds the post’s claim false.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video showing Radhe-Krishna temple in the submerged Dwaraka city

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video showing a Radhe-Krishna temple beneath the water, presented as rare footage of the submerged city of Dwaraka. FACTLY says its investigation found the video was made with 3D technology by artist Sri Ram, rather than recorded at a real temple beneath the sea. Its conclusion is that the video does not show the claimed submerged-city visuals. The review describes using reverse image searches of screenshots from the video. That search led to a TikTok post with similar visuals, whose user described it as a 3D animation inspired by Dwaraka. FACTLY then located the video on the Instagram account of Sri Ram, identified in the review as a digital content creator. The review reports that he posted it on 20 March 2023, with a caption describing it as made in 3D and inspired by the real city of Dwaraka. This provenance supports the conclusion that the circulating video is an artistic animation, not documentary footage of the submerged city.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of a Hindu mob brutally assaulting a Christian in India

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim identifies the video as showing a Christian being brutally assaulted by a Hindu mob in India. FACTLY’s review says the footage instead shows an assault on Alpesh Parmar, a Dalit youth from Bhayli village in Vadodara district, Gujarat. It reports that a group of upper-caste youths beat him over allegedly unpleasant comments on their social media accounts. The incident took place in December 2022; Parmar was not Christian. To identify the footage, FACTLY says it reverse-image-searched screenshots from the post and found a video with similar visuals published by IANS TV on 23 December 2022. IANS described it as showing a Dalit youth being assaulted by a mob in Vadodara. The review also cites reporting about the incident and details from the victim’s FIR. It says seven people assaulted 24-year-old Parmar with a leather belt and sticks, and that the FIR described injuries and casteist abuse. The FIR identified Parmar as belonging to the Scheduled Castes community. These details support the review’s conclusion that the video was misrepresented as showing a Christian victim.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Priests reciting Adhan during a Hindu ritual, because of Kerala government’s decision to appoint Muslim and Christian priests in temples

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post attributes a video of a Hindu ritual in which a performer recites Adhan to Kerala’s government supposedly appointing Muslim and Christian priests in temples. FACTLY’s review identifies the performance instead as Theyyam, a ritual art form associated with North Kerala, and locates the video in Kasaragod district. It identifies the figures as Manichi and Bapiriyan Theyyam, which the review describes as Muslim or Mappila Theyyam.