‘Man with 3 wives and 32 children’ surfaces again on Twitter, Facebook

A social media post from last year claiming that a man has been living with his three wives and their 30-odd children in one jhuggi has been doing the rounds lately.

Screen grab of a photo that has been shared widely on both Facebook and Twitter.

New Delhi: The story of a man living with three wives and 32 children inside a jhuggi has been doing the rounds on social media since Saturday.

The post includes the photo of an old man, surrounded by three women and many children.

One user, Vivek Kumar Sharma, shared the post on Facebook, which has since been shared almost 700 times.

इन मियांसाहब से मिलिए 😱इन की 3 बीबी 32 बच्चे है …😇36 लोग एक झोपड़ी में…शायद आपको यकीन न हो लेकिन ये सच है……

Vivek Kumar Sharma यांनी वर पोस्ट केले शनिवार, १८ एप्रिल, २०२०

Several users have referred to the man in the photo as “mullaji”, insinuating that the man is Muslim, while others have used this photo as grounds to call for a law on population control.

The post was also circulated on Twitter when one user, Pushpendra Kulshrestha, shared it in response to actor Swara Bhaskar’s tweet. Kulshrestha’s tweet has since garnered over 100 retweets and almost 500 likes.

यूपी के सन्तकबीरनगर के डुमरियागंज के बनगवा बरई गांव की ये तस्वीर है।
चचा योगी सरकार से नाराज़ हैं, चचा की शिकायत है कि आवास योजना के तहत कई बार ट्राई किया लेकिन उन्हे आवास नहीं मिला..
इस मियां की 3 बीबी 32 बच्चे है, कुल मिलाकर 36 लोग एक घांस-फूस की बनी झोपड़ी में रहने मजबूर है। pic.twitter.com/IpXtyQl3RQ

— ArnabGoswami (@ArnabRepublicc) April 18, 2020

Fact check

ThePrint journalist Prashant Srivastava had in May 2019 visited the jhuggi featured in the now viral post.

While it is true that there are 38 people living in one jhuggi, it isn’t true that the man is living with three wives and 32 children.

In a video published on 11 May 2019, Srivastava had explained that the man actually lived with his six sons, daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren.

The man in the photo is a barber and his sons work as labourers. The family lives in Domariaganj town in Uttar Pradesh, and had tried several times to register under the government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, a scheme that provides housing in urban areas. The family, however, have not yet been able to get housing.

Incidentally, the post was circulated last year as well, with similar false claims of the man having three wives and 32 children.

एक मियां की 3 बीबी 32 बच्चे।
38 लोग एक झोपड़ी में…शायद आपको यकीन न हो लेकिन ये सच है…डुमरियागंज के बनगवा बरई गांव की ये तस्वीर है
इनका कहना है कि आवास योजना के तहत कई बार ट्राई किया लेकिन नहीं मिला.. खैर एक झोपड़ी में 38 लोग कैसे रहते होंगे ये अभी तक यकीन नहीं कर पा रहा हूँ। pic.twitter.com/6EZZXJbUii

— Harshupandyahyv (@Harshupandyahyv) July 29, 2019

(In collaboration with SM HoaxSlayer)