Journalists interrogated over article on anti-Muslim bias in handling of Kerala bomb case
Police in Kerala state summoned and interrogated Aslah Kayyalakkath, the editor of the independent news portal Maktoob Media, and freelance journalist Rejaz M. Sheeba Sydeek, over an article written by Sydeek that points out anti-Muslim bias in the police’s handling of a recent bombing case.
The article reported that police had held young Muslim men in preventative detention “without proper leads” after a bomb attack targeting Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kerala. The men were detained both before and after a former Jehovah’s Witness claimed responsibility for the attack.
A police report was filed against the article after its release, which Maktoob Media has slammed as “[threatening] the journalistic independence of reporting stories without reprisal.”
Indian minister tells media to avoid platforming “anti-India views” amid shrinking press freedoms
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government continues its crackdown on press freedoms, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur told members of the press to “avoid providing space to anti-India views” in the media.
“There are individuals and media outlets that consistently spread fake propaganda against Bharat, both domestically and internationally,” Thakur claimed at an event organized by the Press Council of India.
“Anti-India” is a label often ascribed by the Hindu right to any criticism of Modi, the BJP, and Hindu supremacism. As such, mainstream Indian media has increasingly become a bullhorn for pro-Modi propaganda.
BJP leader T. Raja Singh booked yet again for hate speech in election campaign
Serial hatemonger and BJP leader T. Raja Singh, who has made consistently violent anti-Muslim hate speeches throughout the nation, has once again been booked for hate speech at an election rally.
“See the fight we have between love Jihadis and Hindu daughters,” Singh claimed, invoking the anti-Muslim conspiracy theory of ‘love jihad,’ which falsely claims Muslim men have an agenda to convert Hindu women to Islam through seduction.
“People all over the world know… that there is a servant of Hindus named Raja Singh, who will give a befitting reply to the Jihadis,” he added.
