Claim: A viral image shows Sahar Ata Bandial, the daughter of Pakistan’s former top judge, Umar Ata Bandial.
Fact: The image does not show Sahar Bandial but Shiffa Z. Yousafzai.
On 13 September 2023, the X (formerly Twitter) user @Drsamina19 posted a picture (archive) claiming it shows Sahar Ata Bandial, the daughter of former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial.
@Drsamina19 captioned the post as follows:
“توشہ خانہ سے چوری ہونے والے کچھ تحائف جسٹس بندیال کے گھر میں موجود ہونے کا انکشاف۔۔۔
یہ تحائف عمران نیازی نے بذات خود جسٹس بندیال کی بیٹی سحر بندیال کو دئیے؟؟؟
[It has been revealed that some of the gifts stolen from Toshakhana were present in Bandial’s house.
These gifts were given by [former prime minister] Imran [Khan] Niazi personally to Justice Bandial’s daughter Sahar Bandial???]”
Imran Khan — the former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — was declared guilty in the Toshakhana case by an Islamabad trial court and given a three-year jail sentence.
Also read: PTI influencer’s picture passed off as Sahar Bandial
In his short order, cited here (archive), the judge had said the ex-PM hid “the benefits he accrued from the national exchequer wilfully and intentionally” and “cheated while providing information of gifts he obtained from Toshakhana which later proved to be false and inaccurate” during his tenure from 2018 to 2022.
PTI leaders and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SBCA) have expressed their reservations regarding the legality of the judgement that led to Khan’s arrest.
Fact or Fiction?
A reverse image search confirmed that the woman in the image is not Sahar Bandial but TV show host Shiffa Z. Yousafzai.
The same picture was carried by different media outlets here, here, and here — archives available here, here, and here — in news stories pertaining to Yousafzai.
In fact, the talk show host herself responded to the claim, writing (archive) on X, “یہ میری تصویر ہے میڈم [This is my picture, madam].”
Read more: Pictures of PML-N supporters wrongly linked to Judge Humayun Dilawar
Soch Fact Check is not investigating claims that some of the Toshakhana gifts were kept in Bandial’s house or that Imran Khan gave them to the former top judge’s daughter.
We have also previously investigated and debunked a similar claim wherein Tayyaba Raja — a PTI supporter and social media influencer — was falsely portrayed as Sahar Bandial.
Virality
The X post by @Drsamina19 has been viewed over 1.3 million times. Two other tweets by @Irum_02 (archive) and @Tussadaqueusman (archive) have received close to 1,000 views.
It was also shared on Facebook here, here, here, here, and here, as well as here on 25 June 2023.
Conclusion: The image does not show Sahar Bandial but Shiffa Z. Yousafzai.
Background image in cover photo: Supreme Court of Pakistan
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