The Hijab row erupted in Karnataka in February 2022 after an educational institution stopped students wearing hijabs from entering its premises. As protests against the government’s backing of the hijab ban gathered steam in various parts of the state, Muskan Khan, a student protester, became the face of the resistance.
The Congress won the Karnataka elections in May this year and replaced the BJP government, which had been in power at the time of the Hijab row. Against this backdrop, a collage of two photographs of women (one has a woman in a burqa, the other has a woman in jeans and a pullover) is being shared on social media with the claim that both of them show Muskan Khan. The viral posts claim that Muskan, who did not want to remove her hijab in Karnataka and protested against its ban, has removed her hijab in London.
On June 14, Twitter user @PrabhashkarSax1 shared the collage with the caption: “This girl, who pretended to wear hijab in class in Karnataka, is Muskaan, who was not ready to go to school without hijab for the sake of religion, is now roaming the streets of London without hijab. After the formation of the government in Karnataka, their purpose has been fulfilled, now they will roam around half-naked.” (Archive)
कर्नाटक में क्लास मे हिजाब पहनने के लिए नाटक करने वाली यह लड़की मुस्कान है , जो दीन के लिए बिना हिजाब के स्कूल जानें को राजी नहीं थी , अब लंदन की सड़कों पर बिना हिजाब के घूम रही है। कर्नाटक में सरकार बनने के बाद इनका मकसद पूरा हो गया , अब यह अर्धनग्न होकर भी घूम लेंगे। pic.twitter.com/PDtWRY8dYp
— सक्सेना साहब एलजी (@PrabhashkarSax1) June 14, 2023
On June 16, Twitter user @ReenaDamor13 shared the collage with a similar claim wile replying to a tweet from the official handle of Congress. She wrote, “Remember this girl ‘Muskan’ who fought for hijab rights? She is in London now. Career and life set after BJP protests in Karnataka! The government changed, work done, toolkit completed. Now she doesn’t want hijab in London, it was needed only in school??” (Archive)
हिजाब अधिकारों की लड़ाई लड़ने वाली ये लड़की ‘मुस्कान’ याद है?
वह अब लंदन में है।
कर्नाटक में भाजपा के विरोध के बाद करियर और जीवन सेट!
सरकार बदली, काम हुआ, टूलकिट पूरा।
अब इसे लंदन में हिजाब नहीं चाहिए , सिर्फ स्कूल में ही चाहिए था?? pic.twitter.com/WX8G582M8j— Reena Damor (@ReenaDamor13) June 15, 2023
Twitter users @HinduRastra008, @mind_kracker, @ajayver38343572, @SinghRV5, @birkaransingh06 and @basubhari shared the collage with similar captions. (Archives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Click to view slideshow.
Fact Check
We did a reverse image search of the photograph of the woman who is not wearing a hijab in the viral posts, and found out that the picture was posted by Twitter user @_sayema on June 6, 2023 with the caption ‘London is beautiful’. This post received 1 million views and 149 Retweets. (Archive 9)
London is beautiful❤️ pic.twitter.com/M3S0IUNcdh
— Sayema (@_sayema) June 6, 2023
Sayema Rahman, whose photograph taken in London has been used in the viral post is not a college student from Karnataka but a radio jockey working at Radio Mirchi. It can be verified from the official site of Radio Mirchi.
Muskan Khan was was stopped at the gate of her college in south Karnataka’s Mandya town by a Hindu mob in saffron shawls and refused to enter unless she took off her hijab. It was during that time that the other photograph that we see in the collage was taken.
Muskan Khan, an Indian Muslim woman who wears the hijab, is being praised for standing up to a far-right Hindu mob outside her college. A ban on headscarves in universities in Karnataka state has angered Muslim students across India, prevented Muslim women from attending classes pic.twitter.com/NbG4M4UNAT
— TRT World (@trtworld) February 9, 2022
We also noted that Muskan’s father Muhammad Husain Khan told India Today that Muskan “had not moved abroad. He said that she is currently at her home in Mandya, Karnataka, adding that the social media rumours were baseless.”
We can thus infer that the two photographs are unrelated and the viral post is misleading, and is being used to cast aspersions on the hijab-ban protest. The woman in jeans and pullover is RJ Sayema Rahman. Her photo has been deliberately clubbed with the photograph of hijab-wearing student protester Muskan Khan to demean both the Muslim women and question their character on the basis of their choice of clothing.
The post Muskan Khan in London? RJ Sayema’s photo used to attack hijab-ban protester appeared first on Alt News.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shreyatama Datta.
Shreyatama Datta | Radio Free (2023-06-21T15:50:01+00:00) Muskan Khan in London? RJ Sayema’s photo used to attack hijab-ban protester. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2023/06/21/muskan-khan-in-london-rj-sayemas-photo-used-to-attack-hijab-ban-protester/
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