Hours after leftist activist and Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan shared a misleading tweet about a Dehraduni singer named Shekinah Mukhiya calling her a resident of Manipur, the father of the celebrity singer filed a complaint to DGP Uttarakhand stating that the tweet by Bhushan was false and that it was misleading.
“He should have researched a little bit before making false claims about my daughter who is a minor. This is not at all okay. As a father now I am worried and concerned given the controversy around Manipur and my daughter’s name attached to it,” said Vikas Mukhiya slamming Prashant Bhushan on August 8.
The saga began on August 6 after Prashant Bhushan and other Congressi heads shared a video of a father-daughter duo singing an old Bollywood melody claiming that the two were from Manipur. The heads further claimed that the two were from two different communities, one from Kuki and the other from Meiti who are at the core of the ongoing unrest in Manipur.
The leftist advocate soon got exposed after the celebrity singer wrote a note on Facebook confirming that she was singing with her father in the video that has now gone viral and that they were not from Manipur. “We can confirm that the individuals in the video are Shekinah Mukhiya and her father, Vikash Mukhiya. It is important to note that we are not from Manipur and have no association with the Kuki or Meitei communities,” she said.
She also pressed that the claims made in relation to the video were unquestionably ‘false’ and that the viral tweet contains misinformation or disinformation that is circulating on social media.
Prashant Bhushan should have researched a bit before making false claims: Father of the singer talk to OpIndia
Vikas Mukhiya talked exclusively to OpIndia on the issue and questioned the intention of Bhushan, who he said was the first one to share the tweet with false claims. Though he believes that Bhushan’s intention might be good behind this, he said that Prashant Bhushan is a lawyer himself and has so many followers and that he should have verified the video and details about us before making any false claims on social media.
“My daughter is a minor and she is still rising in her career. Claims like these made by prominent figures cannot at all be accepted. I don’t know why he did that or what his intention behind the same was. But I am worried for my daughter now given her minor age and her name being dragged amid the Manipur unrest,” Mukhiya said who stays in Dehradun, Uttarakhand with his family.
He also added that he was scared now that his daughter’s name was dragged into a controversy revolving around the Manipur issue which is a sensitive issue. “Had it been me the situation would have been different. But it’s my daughter who is just 17 years old at present. I can’t just deny that I am scared at this very moment. I just hope this accidental reach of ours in the public through the viral video makes no harm to anybody, especially to the Manipur issue,” Mukhiya added.
Identity of a minor wrongly used
The father of the 17-year-old singer further said that he didn’t even know who Prashant Bhushan was before the incident. “I googled to check who this person is and then saw he has a credible number of followers. Why did he do that is still a question. This is not expected from a senior professional like him,” Vikas Mukhiya reiterated.
He also said that the identity of his minor daughter was wrongly used. “My daughter has a long way to go in her career. And this video with false claims has gone viral now. Why has my daughter been shown as Manipuri? Why is her identity used in this way?” Mukhiya questioned.
The complaint letter that Vikas Mukhiya happened to submit to DGP Ashok Kumar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand read, “We believe, research should have taken place before using our name for such a sensitive topic as my daughter Shekinah Mukhiya is a minor and we perform and travel all over the country. We are concerned about our safety.”
Who is Shekinah Mukhiya?
As reported earlier, Shekinah Mukhiya is a professional singer from Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The girl and her musical skills got attention after she appeared in a popular TV reality show named ‘The Voice India Kids’ 5 years ago. Her enchanting voice got appreciated on the stage which probably helped her become a professional singer today.
Mukhiya also has a YouTube channel that has more than 126k subscribers. As per her YouTube history, the video that is going viral on social media with false claims was posted by her on May 25 this year. The caption of the video confirmed that she was singing with her father, Vikas Mukhiya in the video.
Meanwhile, the tweet with false claims was published first by Prashant Bhushan and it continues to appear on his Twitter wall even after being declared false and misleading by the singer herself.
