This week on NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Shardool Katyayan are joined by independent journalist Hemant Gairola and Sreejan Balakrishnan, director of news at the Fourth.

The panel discusses the alleged kidnapping of a teenage girl in Uttarkashi and how it’s been painted as a case of “love jihad”. Communal propaganda has now driven Muslim shopkeepers out of the area. On the role of the media, Hemant says, “Every time a Muslim youth is caught with a Hindu girl, the headline automatically  reads ‘love jihad’. No one wants to be rational.”

Sreejan then talks about how his news portal broke the story of the CoWIN data leak. “If we check the history of the government response on data leak charges, like in 2021, there was a denial first,” he says. “But secretly, they were also inquiring.”

The panel discusses other major headlines of the week, including Cyclone Biparjoy, Brij Bhushan Singh’s claim to contest the 2024 election, and much more.

Hafta letters: Hindutva’s contributions, sexual anatomy, pronunciations