NL Interview: Ayush Tiwari and Basant Kumar on covering the Delhi carnage

The communal carnage in Northeast Delhi in February 2020 left 53 people dead, 40 of them Muslims. Over a year later, the Delhi police’s investigation into the violence is mired in controversy. They have arrested and imprisoned multiple people on flimsy charges such as “conspiracy” even as families of the victims still await compensation and justice.

Ayush Tiwari and Basant Kumar reported on the carnage from the start. In this conversation with Shambhavi Thakur, they talk about their experiences on the ground, the challenge of misinformation and fake news, and how they found the police were fabricating cases against even the victims of the carnage.

Basant describes the immediate aftermath of the carnage and the “false narratives” built by the police. Ayush explains how misinformation on Whatsapp made its way to TV news channels, and how families of the victims are being targeted by the police.

Watch.

Text by Ritika Chauhan.