A photo of a young woman who is not wearing a hijab is going viral on social media, with claims that is the student who took on a saffron-clad mob in Mandya. While right-wing trolls are claiming this was a photo of Muskan, the PES Mandya student who stood up against a saffron-clad mob heckling her for wearing a burqa, scores of social media users have fact checked them. The photo is of  Najma Nazeer Chikkanarale, a member of Janata Dal Secular (JDS), Karnataka, who does not wear a hijab.

Right winger Madhu Purnima Kishwar also shared yet another photo of Karnataka politician with activists including Teesta Setalvad, Shelha Rashid, Umar Khalid, actor Prakash Raj, politician Kanhaiya Kumar. She attempted to attack those in the photo and mocked that it was a ‘family photo’. Kishwar too was feeding off the right-wing claims that the hijab wearing student Muskaan removes her head cover in other settings and thus has double standards. She also tagged fact checker Alt news to verify the claim, perhaps as a safety valve.

#JehadiTeesta, #ConvertKanhaiyya, #ChickenNeckBreakerSherjeel_Imam #CongressiJigneshMevani & so on

सभी देशभक्त एक साथ ,??

कर्नाटक वाली हिजाब गर्ल भी है इसमें
है ??
Lovely family photo! pic.twitter.com/U8hUOxG8Oy

— Madhu Purnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) February 9, 2022

The fact check put on record what is known that the woman in the photo was Najma Nazer, a member of JDS, Karnataka. According to Alt News, politician  Najma Nazeer Chikkanarale, identified herself in the photograph that is now being shared with fake claims. She also posted on her Facebook wall that, “always lie is lie, truth is truth” adding that “some blind devotees had spread false news and tried to steal my character.”

Many right-wing outlets have been sharing more morphed photos as well as collages of Muskan in a burqa and of other women in ‘western’ wear or without hijab. They appear to be building a false narrative that Muskan and other hijab wearing Muslim women lead double lives and indulge in ‘propaganda’.

Madhu Kishwar’s previous faux pas

Kishwar has targeted, abused and vilified Teesta Setalvad for years, using terms such as “Jihaadi Teesta” “hate monger”, “bikau” freely. Kishwar has shared fake and inflammatory statements such as “Teesta Setalvad Brigade majorly responsible for preparing soil for ISIS & other jehadi groups to take root in India.” 

Teesta Setalvad Brigade majorly responsible for preparing soil for ISIS & other jehadi groups to take root in India. #IndiaFightsISIS

— Madhu Purnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) January 22, 2016

Laughable-Teesta Setalvad,hate monger par excellence is leading in petitioning the Supreme Court NOT to take a final call on Ayodhya Ram Mandir dispute & “give peace a chance”! Power of Petro Dollar cum Ford Foundation funding to mass produce Jaichands in India. #BikauActivism

— Madhu Purnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) February 3, 2018

On November 9, 2020, Kolkata police filed an FIR against Madhu Purnima Kishwar for potentially threatening law and order sharing on Twitter a video of a rally in Bangladesh and claiming that it was an ‘Islmaic rally’ in Kolkata.  According to police, the song played in the video clearly refers to Bangladesh. The recording also shows several Bangladeshi flags. However, Kishwar, while sharing the video captioned it as “In Kolkata.” The police called her actions “absolutely incorrect and misleading, posing a threat to the law and order here.” Accordingly, they flagged Kishwar’s tweet with a ‘FakeNewsAlert’ hashtag while the Information Technology (IT) unit started a probe into the matter. 

Related

UP professor throws Muslim girl out of class for wearing hijab!
Did Karnataka’s Education Minister defend a mob that targeted a Muslim woman?
Hijab ban case: K’taka HC refers case to larger bench; denies interim relief to students
Busted! Times Now anchor fails to make important distinction between ban on Islamic traditional veils
Opinion: A salute to Muslim sisters from Karnataka
Hijab controversy: All schools and colleges to remain be shut for the next three days in Karnataka

The post HateBuster: Right-wing gets egg on the face for using fake photo of Muskan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Kolkata police have filed an FIR against Madhu Purnima Kishwar on November 9, 2020 for potentially threatening law and order sharing on Twitter a video of a rally in Bangladesh and claiming that it was an ‘Islmaic rally’ in Kolkata. 

According to police, the song played in the video clearly refers to Bangladesh. The recording also shows several Bangladeshi flags. However, Kishwar, while sharing the video captioned it as “In Kolkata.” The police called her actions “absolutely incorrect and misleading, posing a threat to the law and order here.” Accordingly, they flagged Kishwar’s tweet with a ‘FakeNewsAlert’ hashtag while the Information Technology (IT) unit started a probe into the matter. 

#FakeNewsAlert
A video clip from Bangladesh is being falsely claimed to be from Kolkata. Legal action initiated. pic.twitter.com/FcL1LP12Ln

— Kolkata Police (@KolkataPolice) November 9, 2020

Kishwar initially apologised to officials on the social media platform.

Dear @KolkataPolice, I have never knowingly indulged in spreading fake news.
I deleted it the moment a friend called & alerted me.
This video was sent to me by an otherwise reliable friend.
My sincere apologies for having forwarded it, mistaking procession in Dacca for Kolkatta https://t.co/S4cz4pY7Rp

— Madhu Purnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) November 9, 2020

But just hours later stated that the “issues being raised by the video are not fake.”  

Video is not fake.
The issues being raised by the video are also not fake.
The forces that are raising those issues are globally networked, cutting across national boundaries
So whether that procession was in Dhaka or Kolkata, it’s implications are the same for India &the world https://t.co/n6rWMOdjyo

— Madhu Purnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) November 10, 2020

A part of the song lyrics criticises India for allegedly “taking a stand against Islam.” This bit likely caught the attention of the right-wing ‘activist’ whose verified Twitter handle has over 20 lakh followers. 

Prior to the 1990s, fellow activists and academicians praised Kishwar for her work. However, they dissociated from her once she began embracing Hindutva ideology. Kishwar is also known for her admiration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi whom she compared with Mahatma Gandhi. She also wrote a book absolving him – a then prime-ministerial candidate – of any involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots and called him a “non-communal politician” despite severely criticising him in earlier days.

On November 10, 2019, SabrangIndia had also flagged her for making inflammatory tweets a day after the Babri Masjid verdict was pronounced.

Her Twitter account has been flagged many times for propagating communal material and fake news on multiple occasions – a fact that Supreme Court lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan pointed out immediately on sharing the Kolkata Fake News Alert.

Great. These fake news & hate news spreaders must be brought to account. This lady is a serial offender https://t.co/hmQouJV2TB

— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) November 9, 2020

Dear @madhukishwar Ji, please get reliable friends ?? pic.twitter.com/GAt5V1punF

— Akash Banerjee (@TheDeshBhakt) November 9, 2020

Related:

Madhu Kishwar- Hate Factory personified
No ‘Muslim regiment’ in the first place: Former civil servants seek investigation into fake news
Can’t restrict circulation of fake news on social media: MP High Court
Watch: Samirul Islam on how fake news is changing the narrative in Bengal

The post Kolkata police file an FIR against fake news repeat offender Madhu Kishwar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: opindia

In his written complaint, which he appeals to be treated as an F.I.R., Gokhale writes, “I’m sure you’d appreciate that in this day and age of social media, such hate speech has massive ramifications on public order and harmony. Moreover, it is also argued that such hate speech targeting a particular community on ground of religion is clear instance of promoting enmity and creating disharmony in the society.”
 
Read the entire complaint here:

While Madhu Kishwar has promoted multiple instances of fake news in the past and Advocate Prashant Bhushan had even gone ahead and registered a criminal complaint against her in 2018 calling her tweets an intention “to incite communal hatred and create a disturbance to public peace and tranquility”, she relentlessly carries forward with her agenda of flaring up communal propaganda on her twitter account.  

The post Complaint filed against Madhu Kishwar’s for spewing venom on Social Media appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
‘Whataboutery’ and ‘fake news’ have become such a staple of our times that every time a news story involving the minority community is reported, it is accompanied by ‘conspiracy theories’ and attempts to draw ‘false equivalence’. The Kathua rape and murder case was no different. What was disturbing though was how the willful campaign of spreading misinformation and fomenting hate also managed to somehow blame Rohingya refugees for the crime.

Ever since the body of a little girl was discovered in the forest on the outskirts of Kathua, and the complicity of influential and powerful right wing functionaries and local cops came to light, several websites and social media accounts of known right wing sympathisers went into an overdrive to spin a parallel narrative.

CJP believes that Fake News is a dangerous weapon against democracy and peace. To learn more about how to spot and stop fake news and hate speech, join CJP. Become a Member.For example this tweet by Madhu Kishwar blames Rohingyas for raping the little girl in Kathua:

This new narrative not only attempts to absolve the accused of their crimes, but also blames it on Muslims, especially members of the Rohingya community who had been recently resettled in the region. This was evident at the rally held in favour of the accused where supporters of the alleged rapists were seen carrying the national flag and claiming that the accused were actually innocent and had been framed.

Rally by Hindu Ekta Manch in support of key accused Deepak Khajuria

There were also several attempts to draw false equivalence between the Kathua rape and murder and other cases where victims were non-Muslim. Many also accused ‘liberals’ of selective outrage:

However, what they failed to take into account was that it was in the Kathua case that there were demonstrations and rallies held in support of the accused. In fact, members of the ruling party, Industries and Commerce Minister Chander Prakash Ganga and Forest Minister Lal Singh, were present at this rally. They subsequently resigned following national outrage and due to mounting pressure.

Shankhnaad, a website (that is no longer accessible) popular among right wing supporters published the following conspiracy theory that quickly went viral on social media:

The claims were promptly fact checked and shot down by The Quint, which in turn elicited this response from Shankhnaad. But the manner in which the Rohingya thread was woven into the narrative was particularly interesting given how it was subsequently also played up at multiple protests in Jammu.

“The Rohingya are living in Jammu illegally and want to criminalize our society,” said Paviter Singh, a leader of Jammu Province People’s Forum that supported the shutdown protests. “We will keep protesting” until the government deport Rohingya from the state, he told UCA News.
 

Why are Rohingyas being targeted

Nearly 10,000 Rohingya refugees have been settled in Jammu. These families have been targeted by local politicians such as those from the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party using posters and banners as well as during the recent ‘bandh call’ in the state, allegedly for the purpose of striking fear in their hearts. Infact, the campaign to evict Rohingyas began in 2017 with right wing groups demanding their ouster.

Ever since the Rohingya exodus first began, refugees started arriving in Cox Bazaar and other refugee camps in Bangladesh. Many of them gradually started migrating to India by allegedly crossing the Bangladesh border along Poschim Bongo or Assam after paying huge sums of money to human traffickers. As it is these regions have seen an influx of (mostly Hindu) Bangladeshi migrants post the Bangladesh war in 1971.

But when Muslim migrants started entering the country Saffron groups raised concerns about the Islamisation of Bengal. These fears were fanned further when fake news stories of Muslims targeting Hindus spread during the recent communal clashes in Malda and Bashirhat. Similarly viral and often fake news stories of brutal rapes of local women and girls by perpetrators with clearly Muslim names also help foment hate. As it is difficult to tell if the alleged perpetrator is Indian, Bangladeshi or Rohingya, right wing sympathisers, websites and trolls have a field day playing the blame game.

For instance take a look at this tweet by Shankhnaad on April 12, where they spin a narrative around ‘Rape Jihad’:

This once again draws attention to the religion of the alleged rapists and also makes a case against Rohingyas. Other widely shared social media posts about minors murdered in Assam and Bihar were debunked by Boom Live as either outright wrong information, fake stories or for using images not connected with the crimes.
 

Despicable Lows

Even as the conspiracy theories and fake news reports kept appearing on social media in the Kathua case, most people had the decency to not speak ill of the dead child. However, one Kochi man, sank to a new low when he posted on social media allegedly saying,
 

good that she was killed at this age itself. Else, she would have grown up and returned throwing bombs in India”

He was promptly fired from his job after enraged twitter users demanded his ouster.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has filed a criminal complaint against Madhu Kishwar under sections 153A, 295A and 505 of the IPC for inciting hate and violence with her tweets.
 

The Wider Demonisation of Muslims on Social Media

There are several other instances of demonisation of Muslims on social media. The community is routinely shown as a threat to cows, women and Hinduism, which is why there has been an increase in cases of Gautankwad or cow vigilantism and Anti-Romeo squads unleashing terror on unsuspecting youngsters.

Recently the Editor of Post Card News was arrested for spreading a fake story about attack on a Jain monk by Muslims. Similarly there are viral fake news stories of Hindu women being brutally sexually assaulted by Muslim men, Love Jihad, people eating beef, Muslims refusing to hoist the tricolour or sing the national anthem, forced conversion of Dalits to Islam, are all directed towards building hate for the minority community.

First Published on https://cjp.org.in
 

The post How Hate for Muslims and Rohingyas Sells and Spreads on Social Media appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The complaint has been filed with SHO, Tilak Marg Police Station in Delhi and accuses Kishwar of publishing “misleading and false information”through her twitter handle. It also says that she has been doing this for “last several months.

Apart from recent tweet, the complaint also cites Kishwar’s tweet dated April 14, 2018 in which she alleged that in the Kathua incident of rape and murder, it was,”very likely that family accused of rape have been scapegoated.”She further claimed that the “ Murder of Kathua Minor Girl suspected to be handiwork of jehadi #Rohingyas settled by PDP in Jammu region. Since Jammu people angry at settling criminal Rohingya in Hindu areas, Mehbooba used this murder as counterblast strategy”.

Prashant Bhushan also alleged that her tweets are meant to incite communal hatred and create a disturbance to public peace and tranquility. He said that she has a following of more than two million and her tweets have a far reaching impact.
 

The post Senior Lawyer Prashant Bhushan calls out Madhu Kishwar’s bluff, files complaint appeared first on SabrangIndia.