Muskaan Bawa is a 22-year-old youngster who has apparently secured admission to Harvard University to pursue her Master’s education. On Wednesday, the popular Indian photoblog ‘Humans of Bombay’ shared an Instagram video detailing her journey as an “anxious” teen whose school counselor guided and supported her.
“After 2 years of counselling, my grades improved too. And after I topped college, I realized I wanted to do for other kids what my counsellor did for me – I, too, wanted to become a counsellor,” the video was captioned.
“And just then, I came across the Master’s course for Psychology at Harvard! I said, ‘I believe in myself’ & applied. And 2 months later, I got the best email, ‘You’re accepted to study at Harvard!’; I was the youngest Indian to get in! And the happiness in mom’s eyes was indescribable.”
In a video, Muskaan says she needs Rs 23 lakhs to pursue a master’s in Psychology at Harvard University. She requests people to donate to her education on the crowdfunding website Ketto.
“The path to Harvard has been expensive— Rs. 2.5 lakhs alone went into my application & visa fees! My mom is a single mom & the breadwinner; she’s putting down her savings for me. Still, Rs. 23 lakhs more are required for me to study there,” the caption accompanying the video says.
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This post has gone viral on social media but for the wrong reasons, with many people calling it a scam.
Some people pointed out on social media that the 22-year-old is seeking donations on two crowdfunding websites- Ketto and Milaap. While she is asking people to donate Rs 23 lakhs on Ketto, she is asking for Rs 25 lakh on the other. Some social media users also pointed out that in Ketto, she has mentioned that she hails from Chandigarh while in Milaap, she has said she is from Dharamshala. It was also found that the 22-year-old is already a model with a modelling agency.
Following the outrage, Humans of Bombay issued a statement saying that they put up the post only after checking all her documents.
“At Humans Of Bombay, no fundraiser is taken up without an elaborate vetting of documents and due diligence. Muskaan’s story is no different. First, an interview was conducted where each and every fact was confirmed after which every document associated with her fundraiser was vetted and only after that was the fundraiser brought to you all,” the human interest site said.
