Rana Ayyub: Fearless In The Face Of State Violence
The Coalition For Women In Journalism has compiled a timeline of its coverage of Rana Ayyub’s case to highlight the blatant persecution of the press underway in the country.
Indian journalist Rana Ayyub has been on the receiving end of state-backed violence and harassment ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party's ascent to power in the country. Rana, who belongs to the Muslim minority community in the country, has been vocally critical of the political party’s conservative Hindutva politics and has been involved in important investigative pieces regarding the violence it has unleashed in the state of Gujarat. For this reason, she often finds herself facing disinformation campaigns as well as judicial harassment by supporters of the BJP as well as state offices.
2022
June 26
Twitter withheld Rana’s tweet critical of mosque demolitions in India. Her post on the microblogging site was censored in India at the state’s behest under the country’s Information Technology Act 2000 but remained accessible elsewhere.
April 4
Ruling on Rana’s appeal, the Delhi High Court overturned the restrictions imposed by the Enforcement Directorate and allowed the journalist to fly abroad. The court directed Rana to deposit some money and inform the government agencies of her travel and contact details, local news reported.
March 30
Rana Ayyub was briefly detained and restricted from traveling to the United Kingdom where she was scheduled to speak on intimidation faced by journalists at an event organized by International Center for Journalists. She was then scheduled to fly to Italy to deliver the keynote address at the International Journalism Festival.
March 4
A BJP-aligned group registered a complaint with the police against Rana Ayyub for "hurting Hindu sentiments" in Karnataka. The complaint concerned Rana's criticism of the state for preventing Muslim women from wearing the Hijab to school.
February 14
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated a fiscal probe against Rana Ayyub, alleging that she misused the donations collected for COVID-19 relief.
February 3
The police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against four individuals who were visible in a Youtube video slandering Rana Ayyub.
January 27
A disinformation campaign was launched at Rana Ayyub after she expressed solidarity with Yemen and criticized Saudi Arabia, resulting in rape and death threats.
2021
September 11
A baseless police complaint was registered against Rana Ayyub by state-backed political workers. The complaint, registered in the state of Uttar Pradesh, alleged that Ayyub was involved in fraudulent dealings with the money she had collected for COVID relief work.
June 14
A criminal complaint was filed against Rana Ayyub for sharing a video that appeared to be from the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh on Twitter. The UP police claimed the video did not demonstrate communal violence despite what several news outlets had reported.
February 25
A threatening and hateful video posted by an account named The String accused four renowned women journalists, including Rana Ayyub, of being involved in financial misdealings as well as sedition.
February 4
Rana Ayyub was targeted online for criticizing the government over the ongoing farmers’ protest in the country. In a tweet, Rana called the aggression this time around “something she has never witnessed before”.
2020
July 8
The police closed the investigation into the threats and harassment faced by Rana Ayyub. Rana spoke of the inaction of the authorities, calling it insensitive and reassuring of how the authorities in India do not protect women against cyberstalking and threats.
July 4
Rana Ayyub received various death and rape threats online for her coverage on Kashmir and the aftermath of India’s revocation of Article 370.
February 24
Rana Ayyub received the 2020 McGill Medal for journalistic courage.
2018
May 24
United Nations released a statement saying "Government of India should ensure the safety of journalist Rana Ayyub, and take immediate action against those who threaten rape, murder".
April
Rana lodged a complaint about her face being morphed on a body of another woman in a pornographic video and the abuse that followed on social media.
