Our Correspondent / New Delhi
Delhi Minorities Commission, DMC, has issued a notice to the Managing Director of Zee News asking him to explain with documentary proof that the women of Kairana, in Shamli district of U.P. have been Talibanised. How and by whom this “Talibani soch” has been imported into India? Is the burqa worn by some elderly Muslim women in Kairana not a centuries-old tradition and was this broadcast not an attempt to influence and polarize voters while polling was on in Kairana? DMC asked.
DMC in a statement said that if channel fail to justify its conclusions and remarks with proofs, the channel has to submit a written reply offering unconditional apology and explain what action has been taken against the reporter(s) and staff writer(s) responsible for this false report which spread disaffection against a section of Indian citizens and defamed them on communal and religious grounds.
During recent by-polls in Kairana parliamentary constituency, Zee News telecast a report showing Kairana’s Muslim women wearing “Talibani burqas”. The report, anchored by Sudhir Chaudhry on 28 May, repeatedly targeted elderly Muslim women of Kairana who wear burqas which the channel dubbed as “Talibani burqas”. It alleged that the Muslim community of the area is inspired by Wahabism and that they are trying to propagate the “ideology of Taliban.” Amid images of Muslim women wearing burqas words were flashed like “Bharat mein Talibani soch ki ghuspaith?” (Talibani thinking’s intrusion into India), “Talibani burqe ka itihasik DNA test” (Historic DNA test of Talibani burqas), “Dekhein Kairana mein Talibani burqe ka kya kaam” (Look, what Talibani burqas are doing in Kairana). In addition to the broadcast, the channel also published a report same day on its website with the headline: “Dheere dheere Bharat ke Musalmanon ko kattar banaya jar aha hai” (Slowly, Indian Muslims are being made extremists).
#DNA Analysis on the arrival of the shuttlecock burqa in Kairana@sudhirchaudhary pic.twitter.com/kPjXlQ0jZ2
— Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) May 28, 2018
It claimed that Indian Muslims are being Talibanised which it called a “karwa sach” (bitter truth) and said that attempt is being made to change the DNA of Indian Muslims, that Kairana has become a “laboratory” of communalism and of religion-based politics, that “Talibani thinking has crossed Afghani borders into Pakistan and from there it has infiltrated into India”. Such comments are a clear attempt to defame a community, propagate disaffection against it and concoct a fake story which has no root or basis since the kind of burqas the channel refers to are centuries-old in India. This clearly is an offence under IPC Section 295/A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and IPS Section 505 (spreading false rumours). The baordcast was also an attempt to polarize communities and influence voters on communal lines while a by-election was on in the area, which is a punishable offence under Section 171/C of IPC.
DMC said that the channel also has to file an undertaking that it will desist from airing such unfounded reports in future. Failing this, appropriate action will be taken by DMC against the channel.
The channel has been given two weeks’ time to reply to the notice. DMC Chairman Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan plans to write to the Election Commission and News Broadcasting Standards Authority to take appropriate action against this channel.