New Delhi, Aug 3, 2020: Two students of Jamia Millia Islamia, who had led protests against Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), have sent legal notices to OpIndia, a news portal with Hindu rightwing leanings.
Aysha Renna and Ladeeda Farzana have accused the RSS-sponsored website, which has wide circulation across the country, of false reporting about their participation in the sectarian violence Northeast Delhi witnessed in February.
RSS, or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (national volunteers’ corps), is the umbrella body of Hindu rightwing groups that now control the federal and several state governments.
The students’ legal notices accuse OpIndia for “dishonesty in reporting news” and “doing unprofessional media activity.” The notices mention that the majority of its news reports are prima facie defamatory to both Aysha and Ladeeda and have caused “huge mental agony, loss of reputation and goodwill” among their well-wishers and the general public.
The student activists have further alleged that OpIndia, enjoying extensive readership because of its proximity to RSS, has been publishing fake news and anti-Muslim rhetoric as well as propagating a false narrative against the activists in the wake of the Jamia incident of police brutality.
They also allege that the news website has even engaged through their social media posts and public speeches to misinterpret and use the leaders’ words out of context to draw false inferences. The activists have demanded OpIndia to tender an unconditional apology and pay 5 million-rupee compensation.
OpIndia is “liable to be punished as per Section 499 and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code,” the legal notice says.
The legal notices have given the news portal and their properties seven days to pay the compensation and tender the apology “and withdraw the Facebook post unconditionally.”
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Source: twocircles.net