Reporters Without Orders Ep 157: Hindu IT Cell and Hathras murder

In this episode, host Akanksha Kumar is joined by freelance journalist Srishti Jaswal and Newslaundry’s Nidhi Suresh.

The conversation starts with a report by Srishti and Shreegireesh Jalihal on a Hindu vigilante group, which calls itself the “Hindu IT Cell”, and its network of cyber volunteers. Srishti was targeted by the group last July over a tweet, and she explains how it operates. “This targeting in turn activates and hosts a very toxic wave of trolling,” she says.

The panel then talks about the death of Ambreesh Sharma in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras. Ambreesh was killed by a man who had been arrested for sexually harassing Ambreesh’s daughter.

Nidhi, who reported on the case this week, says: “I feel the story here is the fact that there was a father willing to stand up for his girls, willing to not be threatened and revoke a case of sexual assault on his daughter. And the price he paid for that was literally his life.”

This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.

Tune in!

Recommendations

Srishti

The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

Nidhi

Serial by Sarah Koenig

Akanksha

Firefly Lane

Entering New Worlds Through Photography

Produced by Jude Weston, edited by Samarendra K Dash.

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