Press Organisations Issue Statement of Solidarity After ‘Vicious Trolling’ of Journalists

In light of incessant trolling of certain journalists following the Pulwama attack, journalists have come out in solidarity and asked the Union Home Ministry to discourage the “vicious trolling” following the Pulwama attack.

Several journalists including Barkha Dutt, Ravish Kumar and others were severely trolled on social media after they posted about the harassment of Kashmiris in several parts of the country following the Feb 14 Fidayeen attack that killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force troops.


Condemning the attacks, the Women’s Press Corps, Press Trust of India and Press Association have together put out a statement asking the Home Ministry to book the persons spreading hate against the journalists.

Referring to the targeted trolling, the statement said “Such messages have the potential of inciting hatered and invariably leading to hate crime. We urge the governmnet to look into this with the urgency it deserves.”

Journalist Avishar Sharma even accused the governmnet’s IT Cell for leaking his number on WhatsApp and spreading a hate campaign against him, a claim that was supported by lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan who also faced severe trolling.

Rajdeep Sardesai also reported receiving abusive phone calls while others shared screenshots of the WhatsApp messages that were circulating.

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