I speak as the Editor of OpIndia when I say that our platform itself believes that majority media houses have lost their ethical code. We have over 3… - Nupur J. Sharma

He has claimed that the hanging of Radical Islamic Terrorists Yakub Memon and Afzal Guru would ‘shake’ the faith of Indian Muslims in the country’s judiciary and democratic values. He also attempted to whitewash the Pulwama Terror Attack carried out by Radical Islamic Terrorists in 2019 and claimed that the USA is responsible for the tensions between India and Pakistan, ignoring the fact that Pakistan has been guilty of sponsoring terrorist attacks on Indian soil. Sharjeel Imam has also accused India, USA and Israel of Islamophobia.

Harsh Mander has served in the National Advisory Council (NAC), an advisory body set up by the first United Progressive Alliance government to advise the Prime Minister of India, with Sonia Gandhi as its chairperson. The body was widely regarded by Indian citizens and then opposition political parties as unconstitutional. The body comprised people from civil society organizations of questionable repute. The NAC faced the harshest criticism for its draft of the Communal Violence Bill. The Bill, officially referred to as the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011, promulgated that Hindus ought to be considered the presumptive guilty party in the case of any communal riots. It assumed that only religious or linguistic minorities and people from the Scheduled Castes and Tribes could be the victims of communal violence conveniently ignoring all ground realities.

AltNews was not the only digital media outlet that came to the defense of Tahir Hussain. The Wire provided its platform to the AAP leader to declare his innocence and engage in further victim-mongering. In a video clip shared by The Wire on social media, Tahir Hussain can be heard saying that he should not be targeted for his Muslim identity. Engaging in such problematic rhetoric when several serious allegations have been leveled against Tahir Hussain by eyewitnesses and the family of a deceased Intelligence Bureau constable is irresponsible behaviour on the part of a media outlet, to put it mildly. However, it’s consistent with how the media has conducted itself in the entire matter.