Karnataka Hijab Row: Photos Of JDS Member Peddled With Misleading Claims
BOOM found that the photos show JDS member Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale. Other viral posts have morphed Nazeer's face on an unrelated Instagram photo of a model.
Photos of Karnataka's Janata Dal Secular (JDS) member Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale stolen from her Facebook profile showing her with and without a hijab, are viral on social media amid a raging controversy over the hijab in the state.
The collage is being shared falsely claiming that Nazeer is a college student.
Separately, Nazeer's photo has also been morphed onto the image of a model wearing a red tank top. The image has been stolen from the model's Instagram account.
These misleading and morphed images have been shared with the context of hijab row in Udupi, Karnataka. In the past few days, college campuses have been tense following protests and counter protests including students walking inside classrooms wearing saffron scarves to protest against Muslim female students who demanded that they be allowed to wear the hijab in classrooms.
Read BOOM's ground report here.
The viral Facebook posts show three images of a woman who is seen with and without the hijab. The caption with the Facebook post reads,"She is Nazma Nazeer from Karnataka....She goes to Ice Cream Parlour & Pizza Shop without Hijab & Burqua...But in School, Agenda Must Run? What next will they ask for Stoning and Flogging to be made legal? Today she is wearing hijab for propaganda, tomorrow men of her community would declare a fatwa if she does not wear it. This is how these regressive practices are normalized in society."
Click here to see the post.
Click here to see the post.
Same set of images have been viral on Facebook with similar claims.
Morphed Image
Another Twitter user shared an image of a woman in a red cropped top and claimed she is Nazma Nazeer. The text in Kannada claims, "Real form of Hijab warrior, Nazma Nazeer. Image taken from her Instagram." (sic)
Click here to see the archived tweet.
Also Read: Hijab Row: Old Video From Bangladesh Peddled With Misleading Claim
Fact Check
BOOM found first set of photos show Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale. Nazeer is not a college student. She is a member and currently a Committee observer at the Janata Dal Secular party in Karnataka.
Her Facebook profile image shows the viral hijab wearing image.
Talking to BOOM she said, "These are my old photos which are picked up from my social media profile. We have the constitutional right to wear what we want."
Nazeer has also been misidentified as Muskan whose video went viral showing her confront a mob that heckled her while she was entered college wearing a burqa.
Also Read: Karnataka Hijab Row: No, This Is Not A Photo Of Student Muskan Khan
Second photo is morphed
We ran a reverse search on the red top girl's image and found a tweet posted on April 30, 2020. The image had a hashtag of Tanya Jena.
Taking cue from this we found that Jena, a social media influencer who posted the image on her Instagram profile on March 27, 2019.
Nazeer's face has been photoshopped on to Jena's original image. Here is a comparison below.
Nazeer also confirmed BOOM, "That photo has been morphed, that's not my photo."
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