Fact Check: Viral image of girl paying tribute to Colonel Santosh Babu is not his daughter
By Aiswarya Sriram Published on 19 Jun 2020 7:13 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Around 20 soldiers were martyred in the violent standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies at Galwan Valley. The slain included Colonel Santosh Babu from Telangana.
An image has gone viral on social media with a caption that Colonel Santosh Babu's daughter is paying tribute to her father.
In the picture, the girl is seen hold-folded in front of a chair on which the martyred colonel's photo is placed.
A twitter user sharing the image wrote: "Daughter of Colonel Santosh Babu, 16 Bihar Regiment who lost his life during a violent face-off between #India & #China. Salute to the Brave Hearts #IndianArmy Soldiers."
The picture was also shared by different news channels
The picture with a similar claim was posted on Facebook
Times Now anchor Navika Kumar also shared the picture with the same claim.
The image was also published in Deccan Chronicle website with the caption: "Martyred Indian Soldier Santosh Babu's daughter pays tribute to her father."
Another news website Free Press Journal also carried tweets of people stating the same.
Fact Check:
When we ran a reverse image search, it was found that the picture was tweeted from the official handle of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
In their tweet shared on June 17, they have said that: "We noticed some personalities & prominent handles have mistakenly, without any ill-will reported the girl to be the daughter of martyr Col Santosh Babu. We understand their sentiments but deem it necessary to clarify that the girl is the younger sister of an @ABVPKarnataka karyakarta."
Another tweet posted with the picture also clarified that the girl in the picture is Karyakarta of ABVP in Nelamangala Taluk of Karnataka.
ABVP Karnataka's official twitter handle identified the girl as Kumari Manashri
According to official reports, Colonel Santosh Babu has a nine-year-old daughter named Abhinga and a son Anirudh.
Hence the claim that the picture is of Colonel Santosh Babu's daughter paying tribute is false.
