Amid the ongoing dispute regarding Hijab in Karnataka, which brought Mandya student Muskan Khan to the limelight, a piece of unverified news is viral in her name. Several regional media outlets and social media users have claimed that Muskan has left India without informing the police. There are also racist claims alleging that she has gone abroad to meet “terrorists”.
A YouTube channel, Capital TV, claimed that Muskan Khan has fled to Saudi Arabia with her family and has hidden her visit from the Indian police. The channel claimed that Muskan’s family has received “funds” since they do not have the wherewithal to travel. Capital TV has also accused Muskan of taking funds from “terrorist organisations” and participating in “intelligence meetings”. (Archive link)
Public TV has claimed that Muskan did not give any information to the police about her tour to Saudi Arabia. According to the channel, terrorist organisations had praised her after she chanted slogans of ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’. (Archive link)
Power TV News wrote, ‘’Muskan has gone abroad, is this a conspiracy to meet extremists?’’ (Archive link)
News18 Kannada has also made a similar claim. (archive link)
Asiaent News Kannada, BTV News and right-wing propaganda website OpIndia further amplified the claim.
Fact-check
Alt News conducted a keyword search to gather information on this topic. We found a fact-check article from a news portal named Varthabharati. It quotes Mandya SP Yatish N as stating that Muskan visited Saudi Arabia for personal reasons for which police permission is not required. He added that no complaint has been filed against Muskan and her family. The police officer reiterated the same to Alt News.
Muskan told Alt News that she is on Umrah pilgrimage and is currently in Medina.
The viral claim is, therefore, blatantly false. It must be noted that Alt News first reported on this piece of disinformation on May 12, and the channels that carried the news have neither taken down their reports nor updated or affixed clarifications to the articles.
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