Imagine you are a woman traveling by train and bus, covering kilometers on foot through masses of people to reach the sacred Prayagraj for a holy dip at the Mahakumbh. Now envision that this deeply spiritual (but vulnerable) moment is recorded from various angles and shared on social media. Sadly, this is not a fictional scenario.
Source: aajtak
India Today's fact-check revealed that images and videos of women bathing and changing clothes at Mahakumbh have allegedly been circulating on social media and Telegram. Some of these images serve as teasers for selling other explicit videos and photos.
The Chilling Tale of KumbhLeaks
Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram have become inundated with videos of women bathing or changing clothes by the riverside. Many of these clips are enticing viewers to Telegram for purported full versions.
Some Facebook pages promoting explicit content regularly share videos of women bathing with captions such as “
Mahakumbh Ganga Snan Prayagraj
.” They also utilize hashtags like #
mahakumbh2025
, #
gangasnan
, and #
prayagrajkumbh
One video shows a woman obliviously carrying on with her bath, unaware of being recorded. The person capturing the video deliberately zooms in for clarity, presenting a troubling example of the explicit content these accounts share.
Source: aajtak
Our investigation into trending keywords associated with Mahakumbh revealed that many circulated images and videos are not recent or from Prayagraj, but falsely linked to this grand religious event.
Alarming is the creation of data banks containing objectionable content featuring women bathing and changing clothes by the riverbank.
Monetizing Private Moments
We identified two Telegram channels offering access to private groups where secretly recorded videos of women bathing or changing clothes are shared. These videos circulate under group names like “
Ganga River Open Bathing Group
,” “
Hidden Bath Videos Group
,” and “
Open Bath Videos Group
.”
According to Telegram search engine and analytics platform Telemetrio, searches for “
open bathing
” surged significantly in India between February 12-18.
Source: aajtak
Many clips feature women changing clothes or covering themselves with towels with access charges ranging from 1999 to 3000 INR.
Source: aajtak
During our investigation, some Telegram channels were deleted.
Besides bathing videos, these Telegram channels distribute CCTV footage showing doctors or nurses examining women’s private body parts.
