A screenshot of a tweet purportedly made by Muskan Khan, the woman who was at the center of the Hijab controversy in Karnataka, is being shared widely on social media. In the posted tweet, it can be seen that she thanked the Afghan Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani for supporting her. Recently, Inamullah Samangani had tweeted about the hijab issue in Karnataka. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Screenshot of a tweet made by Muskan Khan thanking the Afghan Taliban spokesman for supporting her.
Fact: The tweet was not made by Muskan Khan. It is from a fake handle (‘@muskanind3467’) that does not exist now (at the time of writing this article). Muskan Khan told ‘Prajavani’ that she does not use Twitter or Facebook, and miscreants are spreading lies by opening fake accounts. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched whether any such tweet was made by Muskan Khan, a tweet made by journalist Mahmodul Hassan was found. He wrote – “Muskan’s father Hussain Khan confirmed she has no Twitter accounts. There are scores of fake Twitter accounts impersonating Muskan made slanderous and malevolent remarks”. He has also listed various fake Twitter handles in Muskan’s name. Talking to ‘Prajavani’, Muskan said that she does not use Twitter or Facebook, and some are spreading lies by opening fake accounts.
The tweet in the posted screenshot was not made by Muskan Khan. It is from a handle (‘@muskanind3467’) that does not exist now (at the time of writing this article).
On looking at the archived tweets of that handle, it can be observed that sometimes, the replies are made to ‘@AmanTweets60’, which also does not exist now.
On comparing the Twitter IDs of ‘@AmanTweets60’ and ‘@muskanind3467’, it was found that both have the same Twitter ID (‘1481195182267977738’) [Twitter usernames can be changed but Twitter ID is unique to an account]. It can be concluded that before the handle name was changed to ‘@muskanind3467’, it was in the name of ‘@AmanTweets60’. Hence, ‘@muskanind3467’ is a fake handle.
To sum it up, a tweet from a fake handle is being shared as Muskan Khan thanking the Taliban spokesman.
