Scientist Khushboo Mirza Promoted to the Rank of ISRO Director? No

The Quint reached out to Khushboo Mirza who rubbished the viral claim.

A viral claim doing the rounds on social media states that Uttar Pradesh-based scientist Khushboo Mirza has been promoted to the rank of director at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The claim further states that Mirza is only the second Indian Muslim after former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to hold the post.

The Quint reached out to Mirza, who told us that the claim is false and she has got no such promotion in the organisation.

CLAIM

The viral message being circulated with an image of Mirza reads: ‘35 year old scientist Miss Khushbu Mirza, has been promoted as a Director in ISRO. She is an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University and only the 2nd Muslim Scientist after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to hold this rank at ISRO’.

The claim shared by Jagdeesh Chawla on Facebook was shared by over 1,200 people on Facebook at the time of writing this story.

The said claim is massively viral on Twitter. Archived versions of the same can be accessed here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

We searched Google with ‘Khushboo Mirza ISRO’ and found a profile of hers published by The Federal. As per the profile, Mirza is a scientist at ISRO hailing from Amroha district in Uttar Pradesh. It further mentioned that she was a part of dedicated teams for India’s two Lunar missions – Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2.

We also found a tweet by Khushtar Mirza, the UP State General Secretary of Indian Youth Congress, where he had mentioned that Khushboo Mirza is his sister.

We reached out to Khushtar Mirza who said that the viral claim is not true. He further told us that it’s an old post which keeps coming back every now and then. “This message was first brought to our notice in 2018. It’s not true,” he said.

Next, we reached out to Mirza who too rubbished the viral claim.

“The claim that I have been promoted to the Director rank in ISRO is absolutely false. Such claims have been made in the past as well. I have brought this to the notice of my organisation as well.”

Khushboo Mirza, Scientist ISRO

Further, Dr Kalam never held the position of director at ISRO. While he worked with the organisation in multiple capacities, which includes working as the Project Director for development of the first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle in the 1980s, he never held top positions at the organisation.

Clearly, the claim that Khushboo Mirza has been promoted to the rank of director at ISRO is false.

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