Belagavi police debunk fake news about RSS attacking army officer Sofia Qureshi's family
A picture of a ransacked home and an image of the officer who briefed the media during Operation Sindoor were shared along with a message in English, that said RSS activists had attacked her family members.
Shared by the handle @uddinanis867, it read: 'BREAKING: Disturbing Attack on Muslim Indian Army Officer's Family. Colonel Sophia Qureshi — the newly appointed spokesperson of the Indian Army — has become the latest target of RSS-led hate. According to credible sources, her family home in Belagavi, Karnataka, was attacked around 3 AM by RSS extremists. Her son, Sameer, was brutally assaulted. The attackers searched for her daughter, Hanima, who was fortunately in Delhi at the time. The assailants set the house on fire, shouted hateful slogans like: 'There is no place for Muslims in India — this is a Hindutva nation!''
'The Indian Army has reportedly restricted Col. Qureshi's movement, and her entire family has been moved to Delhi for safety, as her name is now allegedly on the RSS hit list,'' the post further added.
It had hashtags like #ColSophiaunderattack, #RSSviolence, #Belagaviattack , #Muslimlivesmatter.
SP Bheemashanakar S. Guled told reporters that it was fake news and was being investigated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
20 minutes ago
- Indian Express
4 men from Murshidabad ‘beaten' up in Tamil Nadu for ‘speaking in Bangla'
A police complaint has been filed in Murshidabad district alleging that four youths from West Bengal were beaten up by locals in Thiruvallur in Tamil Nadu on suspicion of being Bangladeshis. According to the complaint, lodged on July 17, Sujan Sheikh, his brother Milan Sheikh, Sahil Sheikh, and Babu Sheikh had travelled to Chennai three weeks ago for construction work. On the evening of July 15, they were in Thiruvallur when a group of people asked their names and where they were from. 'After hearing us speaking in Bangla, they started beating us with iron rods and lathis, suspecting us to be from Bangladesh,' read the complaint lodged by Sujan's father. The four immediately returned to Murshidabad after getting primary treatment at a government medical college in Thiruvallur. 'They beat my two sons and two others only because they spoke in Bangla. They thought they were illegal Bangladeshis. My younger son's left hand was broken. After he arrived here, he underwent surgery. He is still admitted at the nursing home. My elder son is also injured. They will be on bed rest for several weeks,' Ashabul Sheikh, Sujan and Milan's father, told The Indian Express over the phone from Murshidabad. Milan said, 'Locals beat us up after questioning our language. We were very scared. We did not even get our wages for 11 days of work. This was the first time we had gone to Chennai for work. I had to ask my father to send Rs 12,000 to get back home.' Kolkata: TMC MLA from Itahar in Uttar Dinajpur has opened a helpdesk at Pater Sathi bus stand in his constituency to help the families of migrant workers who have been allegedly detained in other states. 'A large number of migrant workers from my area are being detained in Haryana. So we have opened a helpdesk. We are helping and guiding the families regarding the documents they need to show for residential proof. After verifying the documents, I am giving them residential certificates as an MLA. We are asking them to approach the cops for a police clearance certificate,' said MLA Mosaraf Hussen, who is also the chairman of the TMC's minority cell. The helpdesk began functioning on Wednesday, and will continue for a few more days from 7 am to 10 pm. ENS Ravik Bhattacharya is the Chief of Bureau of The Indian Express, Kolkata. Over 20 years of experience in the media industry and covered politics, crime, major incidents and issues, apart from investigative stories in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Andaman Nicobar islands. Ravik won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2007 for political reporting. Ravik holds a bachelor degree with English Hons from Scottish Church College under Calcutta University and a PG diploma in mass communication from Jadavpur University. Ravik started his career with The Asian Age and then moved to The Statesman, The Telegraph and Hindustan Times. ... Read More
Indian Express
22 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Operation Sindoor stood out owing to political, military resolve and Indian forces' precision strikes: Maj Gen Gaurav Bagga in Gandhinagar
Attributing the success of Operation Sindoor to a combined effort of political and military resolve and the ability of Indian Armed Forces to execute such precision strikes using the most indigenous technology, Major General Gaurav Bagga, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Golden Katar Division, on Thursday said that these make this operation different than the ones executed previously. While speaking about the Operation Sindoor, a counter terrorism operation, at Karnavati University in Gandhinagar's Uvarsad on Thursday, Major General Bagga said: 'Unlike a conventional operation that would classically mean that the war is being announced and the army crosses the land, Air Force flies across the enemy territory and the Navy does what it does, there was a contact of forces on the ground, there was another stream of war that was very, very selective. You saw that after the Uri attack, there were surgical strikes, which were precise. This time, we wanted to hit the terrorist camps, which were troubling India.' This was the first time a GOC-rank officer came out in public to talk about the Operation Sindoor in Gujarat. He also said the operation was planned in a manner 'that we hit terrorism, no collateral damage — that means not a single civilian got hit'. 'And the message was very clear that terrorism is what troubles us, terrorism is why Pahalgam happened, and we are going to get back at you. So that is how Operation Sindoor was different. And as Pakistan continued to strike relentlessly for two nights, we again went across the spectrum of the entire country right from north to south. Each air field of theirs was brought down, meaning that the Air Force was grounded. They couldn't fly. And if we had taken it to the next stage, then they would have had to fight the war without their Air Force. No county can do that. That is how different was the political resolve, the military resolve, and the ability of India to execute such precision strikes, using most indigenous technology or technology that we had chosen in collaboration with our friendly countries,' he added. 'The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) was absolutely clear about what he wanted, and had said: 'We will hunt you down and we will do what we want to do.' That was a stern warning. He was representing the emotion of the whole country. And that was a loud statement to make, and therefore, preparation for Operation Sindoor started. Preparations started at political level, which was of CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security), then there was military level, and there were global actions. Blackout drills were carried out in the country. Pakistan had a lot of long missiles. And therefore, the whole nation had to be ready,' he said. Initially, he said, there were '21 targets set as we had decided to target terrorist camps as our fight, in principle, was against terrorism', adding that nine of them were finalised after analysing all. 'It was being planned behind closed doors by the highest planners. Out of the nine targets, seven were hit by the Indian Army, and two by the Indian Air Force and the Navy. After the Pahalgam terror attack, there was a huge amount of cyber attack, he recalled, saying: 'They were all neutralised by our warriors.' Further speaking on how Pakistan changed its strategy each time it failed,, Maj Gen Bagga said that it was the frustration of the nation that was evident in these changed tactics. He went on: '102 terrorists were neutralised. And ultimately, Pakistan had to respond. After this attack, a call was made to the Pakistani DGMO that we had launched an operation, we had finished it and that we had to strike the terrorist camps — to which Pakistan obviously had to respond. We don't have any terrorist camps so they started targeting military infrastructure in Srinagar, Baramulla, Jammu, Rajouri, Avantipora, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur. There were drones, missiles and artillery shelling, apart from unprovoked firing. Every drone which came in was neutralised. So whatever effort they put in could not meet any success. None of our components got hit or destroyed. None of our assets were damaged because of the superior countermeasures that we had instituted. The DGMO then changed tactics. Gurdwaras, madrasas were hit. By the next day, 300-400 drones had hit 36 locations from Leh to Sir Creek. Every artillery shell and civilian airlines they used as a shield failed and the frustration level was going up. Then there were Turkish drones, there were Chinese drones, and some of their indigenous drones. Each one was being neutralised. This was how their attacks were systematically destroyed.' Terming the intervening night of May 9 and 10 as the one that goes in the history in terms of usage of assets in one night during any national operation, he said, 'All the air bases of Pakistan, all airports, assets were destroyed by the Indian army. We were destroying them and showing proofs to people. Most of the airfields had been destroyed. So where does the aircraft take off from? In case the operation went further, it had to go to the next level where the army, Air Force and Navy got engaged. And when their airports started getting destroyed, they knew they had no ability to launch air operations against India in case the war went ahead. Immediately, our DGMO got a call and was told that they were ready for a ceasefire. Our DGMO said: 'Let's talk about ceasefire.' And then we started the next phase of our operations.' Among the challenges that India faced was also countering Pakistan's propaganda of spreading misinformation. 'They just, very subtly, put out that 20 Indian Army bases had been destroyed. They were all fake. During such operations, citizens are expected to look at only authentic sources (for misinformation),' he stated, also adding a word of caution: 'If the source of a message is not authenticated, don't push it forward.'. 'After the operation, the Prime Minister, however, said that Operation Sindoor was not over. He meant that every time there is a terror attack, there will be a response. And for that, we will choose the time, the place and the medium. But there will be a response. It will no more be the status quo. It will no longer be: 'It happens'. We will not show patience. So any act of terrorism will be construed as an act of war,' Major General Bagga added.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
'Secular' and 'socialist' will remain in Preamble: Government
'Secular' & 'socialist' will remain in Preamble: Government NEW DELHI: Taking a position different from that of the RSS , govt on Thursday said it does not intend to drop 'socialist' and 'secular' from the preamble of the Constitution 'The government has not formally initiated any legal or constitutional process to remove the words 'socialist' and 'secular' from the Preamble of the Constitution. While there may be discussions or debates in certain public or political circles, no formal decision or proposal has been announced by the government regarding amendments to these terms,' law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told the Rajya Sabha in a written response. This runs contrary to the RSS's stand articulated by its secretary general Dattatreya Hosbole that the twin additions to the Preamble made during the Emergency and by a Lok Sabha whose tenure was over should be scrubbed. This was endorsed by former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar who termed the two insertions as festering sores. 'Regarding the atmosphere created by office bearers of some social organisations, it is possible that certain groups are expressing opinions or advocating for reconsideration of these words. Such activities can create a public discourse or atmosphere around the issue, but this does not necessarily reflect the official stance or actions of the govt,' the minister said, in what could be seen as a reference to the RSS leader's stand. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Gold Is Surging in 2025 — Smart Traders Are Already In IC Markets Learn More Undo Apart from the Emergency when fundamental rights were suspended, almost all the senior opposition leaders jailed and elections postponed, incorporation of 'secular' and 'socialist' in the Preamble have been opposed also because it was done by a Lok Sabha whose five year-tenure had already run out. The minister said the apex court had clarified that 'socialism' in the Indian context signifies a welfare state and does not impede private sector growth, while 'secularism' is integral to the Constitution's basic structure. The remarks of both Hosbole and Dhankhar were used by the critics to renew their charge that govt was conspiring to change the Constitution, something that had figured prominently in last year's 2024 polls.
