Recently, a news piece took the internet by storm. It was about a Pakistani teacher named Aasia Zubair, who was apparently suspended by the school for having ‘sexy figure’. Yes, you read it right. The viral news was run by a Pakistan media publication, the Republic of Buzz with the headline, “Teacher suspended for having ‘sexy-figure’: Lahore”. It definitely caught Twitterati and netizens’ attention from other social media platforms as well. But digging a little deep into the story, we found it to be a false narrative in our fact check. However, people continue to be obsessed with Aasia Zubair, the ‘victimised teacher’ who was wrongly terminated by school. So, who was Aasia Zubair? And who is Zoya Shaikh, an Indian influencer whose picture is going viral along with this fabricated story? Aasia Zubair, Female School Teacher Suspended for Having ’Sexy-Figure’ in Lahore? Know The Truth Behind Viral Post Claiming to Have Received Termination Letter for Being Too ‘Fit’ or Erotic’.

In our fact check piece, we debunked the report published by Pakistani media website. In their ‘detailed’ news piece, they wrote at length about a thirty-year-old female schoolteacher, Aasia Zubair receiving termination letter for being ‘too fit’ and ‘too erotic’. They had shared pictures of the teacher along with a tweet (now deleted) from handle @AasiaZubair908 where she complained of the unfair treatment. The full tweet reads, “Aasia stated ‘So Apparently I received a termination letter from my school administrator stating that my body is too ‘fit’ or ‘erotic’ for me to teach classes of the secondary education students. We usually We wear decent shalwar kameez with dupatta at our school & I’ve know idea what else they wanted from me? Ridiculous [sic]'. In this tweet, she also used a hashtag, #TooSexyToWorkSoFired, which also had gone viral. Later, the same Twitter handle but with a profile picture of a different girl tweeted and promoted a snapshot of Republic of Buzz story.

A glance at this news report and you can see a bunch of loopholes like the use of same Twitter username is not possible. Promoting the tweet to make it look like a viral piece. However, the most striking error was the use of photos of different individuals in the report. The news publication ran the story featuring a white suit with red dupatta-clad girl’s photoshopped picture as its lead or first image. In contrast, throughout the story, they posted photos of another woman (probably the real Aasia Zubair, the suspended schoolteacher).

Netizens seem to have been on a lookout of this white suit with red dupatta-clad girl referring to her as Aasia Zubair. But is she Aasia Zubair? The answer is not. This girl is Zoya Shaikh, an Indian influencer, probably from Mumbai. Her photoshopped image has been used by the Pakistani news website in their story and later wrongly circulated to gain eyeballs online. A self-proclaimed model and influencer, Zoya had posted a series of pictures on February 14, 2020 (as seen below). She can be seen wearing the same red and white combination and keep clicking right, and you will see that the third image of this post has been altered and used in the news piece to fit their narration.

Zoya Shaikh Not Aasia Zubair (File Image)

We hope the mystery over Aasia Zubair is finally revealed. The girl in the viral pic is not Aasia Zubair but Zoya Shaikh. And she is not the suspended teacher from Pakistan but an influencer from India. You can check out some of the pictures from her Instagram page and also a music video that she has been a part of.

Zoya Shaikh Not Aasia Zubair, Looking Gorgeous in Red and White Ensemble

 

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Jumma Mubarak❤️... #jummahmubarak #staypositive #stayhumble #instadaily #followmeto

A post shared by zoya shaikh (@zoya_shaikh.786) on

Watch Video of Sugat Dhanvijay - O Khuda feat. Harmaan Nazim | Zoya Shaikh

Another Picture of Zoya Shaikh, This Time Chilling In Igatpuri

As a side note, we would like to share the definition of fake news or yellow journalism, brought back to life by digital news. Fake news, also known as junk news, pseudo-news, alternative facts, false news or hoax news, is a form of news consisting of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media or online social media. So, stop believing and forwarding everything you come across on the internet.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 24, 2020 05:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).