Page 40 - Tehelka Issue 13 - July 15, 2018

Singh posted Ghose’s image with Is this my country?”
a death threat message: “This is Another incident like in the case
the journalist that should get shot. of Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-
Not the likes of Bhukhari (Shujaat chief, The News Minute, was asked
Bukhari).” to upload nude videos and perform
Then in April this year, inde- sex acts with her supporters. The
pendent journalist and author Rana reason was a critical opinion by
Ayyub became the victim of one of Rajendran on film Sura. A hashtag
the biggest doxing scandals when #PublicityBeepDhanya was run on
malicious tweets from a Twitter Twitter to troll her that lasted for
handle bearing her name and im- three days and pulled over 30,000
age were widely circulated to rep- abusive tweets. Then, Famous TV
resent her as the sympathizer of journalist at NDTV, Nidhi Razdan,
child rapist in Kathua rape-murder has received death threats on many
case. One of the tweets read: “Mi- occasions and to count in, recently
nor child rapists are also human, on Instagram via a private mes-
do they have no human rights. This sage, a platform mostly known for
Hindutva Government is bringing photo stories. Journalist Sandhya
ordinance for death to child rapists
just to hang Muslims in larger num-
bers. Muslims aren’t safe in India Female journalists
anymore”. and writers in fenders for being sighted at a con-
Rana, explaining her harrowing flict site while taking pictures at the
account in a criminal complaint South Asia have encounter site.
filed on April 26 said: “I couldn’t since ages been Masrat then took to Facebook to
sleep for three nights. I couldn’t talk, share her ordeal, “Last night, I up-
I couldn’t believe what was happen- under constant loaded my picture from a gun battle
ing. I was numb. My parents called site and within no time people cir-
me to see if I was OK. The trolls threat of life, culated it on their pages and walls
posted my phone number, the ad- sexual harassment with the caption ‘MUKHBIR’ (spy).
dress of my house online. If this is This is really shocking, that fateful
the depth of their hatred, what will and violation of day I was seriously injured my leg
stop them from coming into my human rights and shoulder got serious injuries
house as a mob and kill me?”... “I’ve despite that I did my job and clicked
been trolled before, but I have nev- pictures with a broken arm, even
er faced anything like this. I don’t Ravishankar for her sand mining my trousers were torn off, and now
know what else I have to fear after story from Tamil Nadu, investiga- it has been one and a half month
this... I’m repeatedly telling the state tive journalist Neha Dixit for child still I am not recovering.”
that I’m under attack and I fear for trafficking in Assam, BuzzFeed India
my safety. Will they take action only editor Rega Jha for her opinion, the Dealing with trolls
after something happens?” list is never ending. In 2013, a study on verbal and online
Senior Indian Journalist Barkha Again, female photojournalists abuse in India called ‘Don’t Let It
Dutt too talked about receiving are often subjected to abuse and Stand’ mentioned that in some cas-
death threat, “Received chilling hostility both on the ground and es, a person uses multiple accounts
veiled threats and “messages” from online. And if she is a Muslim, re- to harass a woman. Wikipedia de-
powerful people in the Establish- porting from a conflict or encoun- fines such a phenomenon, in which
ment today that my family and I are ter site then the gravity of abuse is multiple (Wikipedia) user accounts
under surveillance — and that I will even more. This is what happened are used for inappropriate purposes
be smeared & maligned to stop me when budding photojournalist as sock puppetry. In a volunteer-
from starting any new projects. Was from Kashmir, Masrat Zahra, was driven community dependent pro-
advised to get my house debugged. called Mukhbir (spy) by online of- ject like Wikipedia, volunteers use

Tehelka / 15 july 2018 40 www.Tehelka.com

37-41 Press Freedom.indd 4 03/07/18 4:01 PM