CAA Protests: Class 12 Student Misidentified as Jamia’s Ayesha

The girl seen in the images is actually 17-year-old Safa Sebin who is a class 12 student in a Wayanad school.

Viral images on social media falsely claim that the girl seen in them is Jamia Milia Islamia’s student Ayesha Renna.

(Photo: Twitter/ Altered by The Quint)

After protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act at Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday, 15 December, snowballed into violent clashes, a video which showed three students of the university — Ayesha Renna, Ladeeda Farzana and Shaheen Abdullah — standing up to the cops was shared on the internet.

CLAIM

Now, another image is being circulated online which shows a young girl with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Users are claiming that the girl is Ayesha Renna and that she is close to Gandhi.

(Photo courtesy: Facebook/screengrab)

(Photo courtesy: Twitter/screengrab)

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Screengrab)

WHAT’S THE TRUTH?

On conducting a Google reverse image search, we found an article published by Kerala Kaumudi on 5 December with the headline: ‘Class 12 student flawlessly translates Rahul Gandhi’s speech, turns hero (video).’

The article carried the images that are viral on social media.

Google reverse image search led us to an article published by Kerala Kaumudi on 5 December.(Photo courtesy: Kerala Kaumudi/screengrab)

According to the article, Rahul Gandhi, before delivering a speech at the inauguration of a science lab in a Kerala’s Wayanad school, asked if somebody among the students was willing to translate his English speech to Malayalam.

17-year-old Safa Sebin, seen in the image, volunteered to translate his speech on the importance of science. The article had clearly identified her as Safa Sebin and not Ayesha Renna.

“Safa Sebin didn’t falter at any point of her translation. The 17 year old was actually the hero of the day. Amid thunderous applauds, she was again congratulated by Rahul Gandhi,” the article added.

The article also carried a video of Rahul Gandhi with the girl which was uploaded on Congress’ official YouTube channel.

Evidently, the girl in the picture has been misidentified as Ayesha Renna to propagate a false narrative.

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