By Huneza Khan
Bhopal: A resident of Bhopal, hurt by the communal coverage of a rape case in the city, has filed a writ petition in the Madhya Pradesh high court, seeking criminal action against the editors of Hindi dailies Dainik Bhaskar and Navdunia.
The petition has been filed by a resident who works in the private sector and does not want to be named at the moment. He identifies as an ordinary citizen with no political or organisational affiliation. He is not a social activist or public figure, but says he was compelled to approach the court after feeling deeply hurt by the communal framing in the media coverage.
The petition accuses the newspapers of repeatedly using the term “love jihad” while reporting the incident, thereby linking the crime to an entire community. It argues that the coverage went beyond the crime itself and attempted to blame a community as a whole, thereby disturbing communal harmony and promoting social division.
The petitioner identifies as a devout follower of Islam and a believer in the secular values enshrined in the Indian constitution. The case involves a brutal crime in which women students from Bhopal’s TIT College were allegedly raped and blackmailed with videos taken of them. The petitioner stresses that the matter should be treated strictly as a criminal case.
The petition alleges that Dainik Bhaskar and Navdunia deliberately portrayed the incident through a communal lens by invoking the term “love jihad,” a phrase that has no legal basis in Indian law. It adds that these publications published inflammatory reports linking the religion of the accused in a rape case to the entire Muslim community.
He expresses special concern over the misuse of the word “jihad”, explaining that in the Quran it means striving for justice and defending the oppressed, not committing crimes. He quotes verses from the Quran (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:190, Surah Al-Hajj 22:39) to support that the term jihad has been twisted to paint Muslims as criminals.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
