On April 2, Asianet Hindi published a report about a woman who had complained against her father-in-law and husband. Though the woman and accused were Muslims, Asianet net decided to use Hindu Festival Navratri’s name instead of Ramzan, which is a Muslim festival that is happening simultaneously. The headlines remained the same for two days, and it was changed only after the outrage on April 4.
The Google News section still shows “Navratri” in the title. It takes a few hours for Google News to catch up with the changes in the title. That means the title was changed only a few hours before this report was published.
Victim files complaint against father-in-law Rashid Khan
Notably, Asianet does not mention the name of the accused but mentions that the woman had ‘Nikah,’ i.e. Muslim wedding. A report in News 18 mentioned the name of the accused as 65-years-old Rashid Khan. As per reports, the complaint was filed in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh. The victim got married in 2020, and Rashid made her uncomfortable from the very beginning, due to which she used to keep a distance from him.
Slowly, he allegedly started sexually abusing her whenever he got a chance. She further claimed her father-in-law raped her when they were alone at home and threatened consequences if she ever told anyone about it. The husband favoured his father instead of standing for the wife. After allegedly being abused for months, she gathered courage and filed a complaint against her father-in-law.
When the husband came to know about it, he scolded her. He threatened to force her to sleep with his father. She claimed his husband alleged she had an affair with someone in Jabalpur that she denied.
Woman Police Station in charge Sushma Shrivastav said in a statement that a woman had filed a complaint against her father-in-law. She added that her husband did not support her, after which she had come to file a complaint with her parents.
Asianet changed the title after uproar
Asianet Hindi kept the title with Navratri in it for two days and changed it only after netizens noticed and criticized the media house for the blunt misinterpretation of the matter.
Netizens criticized Asianet leading to a change in the title of the report. Twitter user Prakash said, “Unrighteous jihadi Muslims do indecent acts, and you print “It happened in Navratri”. What are you trying to say?”
@AsianetNewsEN अमर्यादित विभत्स कर्म अधर्मी जिहादी मुसलमान करे और तुम छापो” नवरात्री में एैसा हुआ”😡क्या कहना चाह रहे हो ? @PTI_News @MIB_India इसका लाईसेंस निरस्त कीजिये 🇮🇳 @dgpup @Uppolice @myogiadityanath @myogioffice @himantabiswa संज्ञान लीजिये @VHPDigital @BajrangDalOrg pic.twitter.com/OalLFjQ394
— prakash (@prakash26940524) April 4, 2022
Another user Prabodh Rai questioned what Muslims have to do with Navratri.
मुसलमानो का नवरात्रि से क्या मतलब है ? @AsianetNewsEN pic.twitter.com/6PVhDoZ7MU
— Prabodh Rai (@prabodhrai21) April 4, 2022
Media houses misreport reports with images
This is not the first time media houses misreported matters where criminals were Muslims, but the images depict if the crime was committed by a Hindu. On multiple occasions, media houses have used photographs of Hindu saints to report crimes done by Muslims. It is not limited to Indian media, but International media also indulge in such mischievous acts. In June 2021, NYP was caught using an image of a Hindu saint in a crime committed by a Muslim cleric.
In 2018 Dainik Jagran called an accused in a harassment case “Tantrik Sufi baba” in the headline. He, in the content, was identified as later identified as Aftab.
In the same year Hindi News18 in its article carried the headline, “Tantrik arrested for committing misdemeanour with a minor, under the pretext of chasing away ghosts”. The Tantrik was later identified as Hafiz Sajid.
