35 Unmarried Girls In Uttar Pradesh Became Pregnant? Here’s The Truth.

Recently, an image bearing the logo of ABP News went viral on social media. The image has text written in Hindi, “यूपी के इस गांव में 35 से ज्यादा कुंवारी लड़कीयां हो गईं प्रेग्नेंट! परिजनों के उड़े होश (35 unmarried girls in a village in UP have become pregnant which created shock among relatives)”.

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However, as we investigated, we came to know that the claim was false. The girls were mistakenly registered as pregnant in a government nutrition program. Here’s the fact check.

Fact Check 

The viral image contained the logo of ABP News. Taking this clue we started our investigation by conducting a relevant keyword search. This led us to the news report published in ABP News on 12 November 2024. According to the report, “…during Diwali, a message was sent to the mobile phones of more than 35 teenagers in Ramna village which stated that they were registered as pregnant women. When the department investigated this matter, it was found that the Anganwadi woman who provides nutritious food to pregnant women and children also works as a BLO. For a scheme, Anganwadi women were going from house to house and collecting Aadhar cards and forms of rural family members.

Chief Development Officer of Varanasi said that while collecting the forms, Anganwadi workers mistakenly mixed up both the forms including the Aadhaar number. After this, registration was done on the same Aadhaar number, after which the girls received this message. But taking immediate cognizance of this matter, the data was deleted even before the complaint. This is a human error. A notice has also been issued to the people responsible for this matter.”

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A report from Janasatta read, “Due to the negligence of the women working in Anganwadi, names of more than 35 girls were registered in the list of pregnant women.

In this case, Varanasi’s Chief Development Officer Himanshu Nagpal said that Asha Didi, working in Anganwadi, is also doing the work of BLO. Under a scheme, she had collected Aadhar cards and forms of the members of rural families. However, the forms got mixed with the forms of pregnant women, which led to the confusion.”

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A similar report from News24 can be read here.

A Dainik Bhaskar report stated that all the incorrect data had been deleted.

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This makes it clear that the confusion had been created due to the negligence of the department.

Conclusion 

From our investigation, we can say that the viral claim is false. 35 unmarried girls were not actually pregnant in a village in UP. They were mistakenly registered as pregnant by the Anganwadi workers in a government scheme.