Deeksha Sharma of The Quint news portal, received threats and online harassment for a video in which she questioned the rape culture and patriarchy in a popular rap song. The Quint took down the video stating that it ‘has voluntarily taken down the video because of the unprecedented harsh abuse it has generated… we do not wish to put our brave reporter to unnecessary harm at the hands of criminals.”
Similarly, in Coimbatore of Tamil Nadu state, the editor of The Covai Post Vidyashree Dharmaraj and reporter AR Meyammai received death threats over Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and VoIP calls for a story on their website about a ritual of parading half-naked pre-pubescent girls published on September 24. The Network of Women in Media in India (NWMI) has condemned the threats and harassment calling for swift action by the Tamil Nadu police. India has already seen three murders; and a sharp rise in the number of attacks and threats on journalists. Senior journalist KJ Singh was murdered in Mohali, Punjab on September 23 while Shantanu Bhowmik was killed by a mob in Tripura on September 20 and no breakthrough in the murder case of Gauri Lankesh has been publicly announced. The IFJ said: "The IFJ is seriously concerned by the increasing intimidation of journalists in India. The death threats and online harassment of journalists, especially female journalists, should be a matter of serious concern and urgent action by the Indian authorities. The rising number of threats, fuelled by the impunity for crimes against journalists, is threatening freedom of expression a fundamental rights in India.”
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