Meena_Kotwal

Meena Kotwal

Meena Kotwal

Indian journalist

Meena Kotwal is a Dalit journalist, human rights defender, and the founder of The Mooknayak, an online news channel and website focused on social justice for the Dalit minority and marginalised people.[1][2][3]

Quick Facts Born, Alma mater ...

Biography

Meena was raised in a Dalit neighborhood in New Delhi.[4] Her parents earned little from their work as laborers.[4] Meena attended the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi (2013-14 batch) and studied radio and television journalism.[5] She also attended Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Delhi, and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University.[5]

Meena had worked as a broadcast journalist at the Hindi language division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in New Delhi, India from September 2017 to July 2019.[6] She has said her BBC contract was not renewed after she was outed as Dalit by a colleague and then experienced discrimination, and had her formal complaint denied as lacking "merit or substance" by the BBC.[4]

She also contributes opinion pieces for The Wire, The Print, The Shudra, Youth Ki Awaz and Feminism in India.[7][8] Her open letter to popular Indian actress Kangana Ranaut was published by The Wire,[9] and the republished in Indian languages and Nepali.[2] She has also worked for National Dastak, an online platform which focuses on the stories of marginalised identities.[citation needed]

On 25 December 2021, she posted an online video of herself burning the Manusmriti.[10] She then began to receive death threats and rape threats, and the Delhi Police registed a FIR about the threats.[10] In January 2022, she explained her reasoning for burning the Manusmriti: "The Manusmriti contains a lot of anti-women and anti-Dalit content. Babasaheb Ambedkar had also burned the Manusmriti, on 25 December 1927. Since then, Ambedkarites have been observing the day as Manusmriti Dahan Divas."[10] In February 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and others at the UN wrote to the Indian government to express concern about the threats directed at Kotwal.[11]

She founded The Mooknayak in 2021,[1] and by 2023, employs 10 journalists.[12] She has described it as "a Dalit-centred newsroom."[12] The stories published in The Mooknayak cover issues concerning Dalits and other marginalized groups in India.[4][3] By March 2023, the related Youtube channel for the online newspaper had 50,000 subscribers.[1]

Honours and awards

Personal life

Meena resides in New Delhi and has a daughter. She is married to Raja Pandey.[4]

  • "India: intimidation and threats against Meena Kotwal (joint communication)". UN SR Human Rights Defenders. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.

References

  1. [1]
    "Dalit journalist takes aim at changing history with stories of India's marginalized". Arab News. 15 March 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  2. [2]
    Singh, Stuti Paul (23 February 2023). "FII Interviews: Journalist Meena Kotwal On Minority Politics, Journalism Today And The Caste Divide". Feminism in India. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  3. [3]
    Lal, Neeta (22 September 2021). "In India, calls for a caste census grow as more seek to benefit from affirmative action policies". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  4. [4]
    Singh, Karan Deep (6 March 2023). "With Stories of Her Oppressed Community, a Journalist Takes Aim at the Walls of Caste". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  5. [5]
    "Twocircles.net journalist Meena Kotwal wins IIMCAA Awards". TwoCircles.net. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  6. [6]
    "Dalit journalist accuses BBC Hindi of discrimination, says was let go due to caste". ThePrint. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  7. [7]
    "Meena Kotwal : Exclusive News Stories by Meena Kotwal on Current Affairs, Events at The Wire". The Wire. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  8. [8]
    Kotwal, Meena. "Author: Meena Kotwal". फेमिनिज़म इन इंडिया. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  9. [9]
    "A Letter to Kangana Ranaut On Caste and Reservation". The Wire. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  10. [10]
    Bose, Meghnad (12 January 2022). "'Right Wingers Threatening to Rape Me for Burning Manusmriti': Dalit Journalist". The Quint. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  11. [11]
    "UN writes to India over inaction on death threats to Dalit journalist". Pakistan Today. 9 April 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  12. [12]
    Sharma, Saurabh (13 February 2023). "'Leading the voiceless' - how low-caste Indian journalists are crowdfunding their own newsrooms". Al Jazeera Journalism Review. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
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