Twitter User Shares Edited Image Showing Mia Khalifa with Wrestlers Protesting at Jantar Mantar…

Indian wrestlers have been protesting in Jantar Mantar accusing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually assaulting female wrestlers. The wrestlers are protesting because, despite numerous accusations of sexual misconduct, no FIR has been launched against Singh. The protesting wrestlers include stars of Indian wrestling like Olympic Bronze medalist Bajrang Punia, Commonwealth and Asian games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat and Olympic Bronze medalist Sakshi Malik. Many opposition leaders including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal have visited the protests and expressed solidarity with the wrestlers.

BJP leader Janardan Mishra kicked up a storm after he tweeted a photo of Priyanka Gandhi with female wrestlers protesting against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. On April 29, Mishra tweeted the photo of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi with wrestlers with a caption in Hindi that said, “Why didn’t Mia Khalifa join the protest? After all, she’s also a wrestling champion, bro…!”

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As a result, the name of former adult movie star Mia Khalifa began trending on Twitter. Many Twitter users criticized Mishra for making such a derogatory and misogynistic comment against the protesting wresters. Twitter user Shrikant Tripathi, who calls himself a supporter of BJP/RSS, shared an image of Mia Khalifa standing with the protesting wrestlers. 

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However, this image is edited. Mia Khalifa is not standing with the protesting wrestlers. Here is the fact check.

Fact Check

After conducting a Google reverse image search of the edited photo, we found the original photo in the search results. Bhupender Chaudhary, the National spokesperson of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) party, visited the protesting wrestlers and extended his support. He shared images of his interaction with the wrestlers on his Twitter handle, from which the viral image was taken.

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Below is a comparison of the real image and the edited image, revealing that Mia Khalifa’s photo was edited into the real image. The real image captures Bhupender Chaudhary speaking while wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia stand beside him.

We also found Mia Khalifa’s actual photo used to create this fake photo. Mia posted the photo used in the edited viral image on her Instagram account in 2019. You can view the screenshot of her Instagram post below.

Conclusion

Our fact-check confirms that the image depicting Mia Khalifa at Jantar Mantar with the protesting wrestlers is fake. The authentic image shows RLD leader Bhupender Chaudhary speaking with the protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar.