Old, unrelated images shared as visuals of Col. Sofia Qureshi, IAF’s Vyomika Singh’s vandalised homes

After the recent India-Pakistan conflict, an image of a vandalised home was shared on social media alongside a picture of Colonel Sofia Qureshi. Those sharing the image claimed that Colonel Qureshi’s house in Belagavi, Karnataka, was attacked by RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) goons.

Facebook pages Abdul Rasheed Azad and Funny Pakistani Police shared the image and claimed that RSS goons targeted the Muslim Indian Army officer by vandalising her house in Belgaum in the middle of the night. They also claimed that Colonel Qureshi’s son, Sameer, was brutally beaten, while her daughter Hanima survived the horror because she was in Delhi. (Archives 1, 2)

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X handles @JN_Araain and @BattlesInsight also shared the picture with similar claims. (Archives 1, 2)

Similar claims that Bajrang Dal goons threatened and vandalised the house of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Vyomika Singh’s elderly parents also did the rounds on social media. (Archive)

Fact Check

Image 1: Alt News did not find any media reports suggesting that Colonel Sofia Qureshi’s home was vandalised by RSS workers. However, we came across several news reports where the Belagavi police denied viral claims that RSS activists attacked Colonel Qureshi’s house.

According to Zee Kannada, in a press conference, Belagavi Superintendent of Police Dr Bhimashankar Guled called the viral claims of RSS attack on Colonel Sofia Qureshi’s house fake and said that tight security was being provided to her family.

We then performed a reverse image search, which led us to a Deccan Herald article dated April 26, 2024, that used the viral photo. It stated that “residents of the Indiganatha village in Hanur taluka of Chamarajanagar district boycotted polls, and protested by pelting stones and damaging electronic voting machines at a booth under Mahadeshwar Gram Panchayat limits, halting the polling process.”

The caption of the photo said, “Electronic voting machines and furniture were damaged in a stone-pelting incident in the Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district.”

Second image

Image 2: A reverse image search led us to a Newark Advertiser report dated February 22, 2018 in which the same image was used. The picture is from an incident of vandalism at a house in Lincoln Court, Newark, UK.

Alt News also did not find any news reports that said Bajrang Dal members attacked the IAF officer’s house.

To sum up, social media users shared false claims that homes of Indian Army Colonel Sofia Qureshi and IAF Wing Commander Vyomika Singh were vandalised by Hindutva outfits. The viral images are old and unrelated and there is no truth to these claims.