Unethical Media Coverage Of Karnataka Hijab Row By Kannada Channels Increasing Harassment Of Muslim Students, Women

Various Kannada media outlets have reportedly misinterpreted the High court’s interim order and been party to the ongoing harassment of female Hijabi students in the state. Several videos have surfaced on social media sites that show Kannada media reporters barging into schools and colleges confronting Hijab-wearing students to remove their headscarves. 

The Karnataka High Court bench comprising of three judges, headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, had earlier issued an interim order amid the ongoing hearing of the petition challenging the Hijab ban in educational institutions in the state.

The interim order states, “Pending consideration of all these petitions, we restrain all the students regardless of their religion or faith from wearing saffron shawls (Bhagwa), scarfs, hijab, religious flags or the like within the classroom, until further orders. We make it clear that this order is confined to such of the institutions wherein the College Development Committees (CDC) has prescribed the student dress code/uniform.”

However, the Kannada Media Channels and some educational institutions have used the High Court’s order to keep Muslim students out of classrooms. Apart from these institutions, some professional Engineering and Business Management colleges have also joined the anti—Hijab bandwagon run by the mainstream Kannada Media.

Child Rights Violation by Kannada Media

In distressing footage aired on the Digvijaya News, a reporter identified as Kiran Kankari was seen chasing a Muslim minor student who had been asked to leave the school premises for having worn the Hijab in Shimoga. Following the incident, human rights activists and netizens expressed widespread outrage at the harassment of a child.

The District Child Welfare Committee of Shimoga had issued notices to some of the media channels for the apparent violation of a minor’s rights and several organizations have also filed a complaint against the accused reporter, in this regard.

In their letter to the media, the committee said, “Some of the media houses violate the rights of the children with their insensible reporting. The Committee has taken note of the video being circulated on social media. The report has been generating mental agony for the children. This is clearly against the rights of children as per section 75 of the Child Rights Act 2015. Some of the news channels have even telecast the incident live from Shimoga”, it stated.

The committee has cited violation of section 75 of the juvenile justice act and summoned the channel’s representative, however, no legal cases have been filed, it is learned.

Harassment And Infringement Of Minors’ Privacy

In another incident of unethical reporting, reporters from Public TV were seen barging into the classroom of the Maulana Azad Model School where children in Hijab were in attendance. The video report by the accused channel displayed visuals of minor Muslim students sitting in their classroom, while the anchor made provocative statements against the students wearing the Hijab citing the High Court interim order. The channel displayed visuals of the minors without consent, while the children looked visibly distressed.

In the aftermath of the video segment going viral on Twitter, Netizens tagged the state’s Department of Minority Welfare seeking action against the channel. The official Twitter handle of the State Department of Minority Welfare has responded that an inquiry would be undertaken to look into the incident. The department also said that they would take appropriate action within 48 hours of receiving the preliminary report.

Ironically, the Minority Department has issued a common circular to 334 minority institutions stating that students wearing the Hijab/Saffron Shawl should not be allowed into classrooms. While the department’s order bases its decision on the High Court’s interim order, the original HC order clearly states that it is only applicable to colleges where CDC has prescribed a uniform.

Kannada Channels Accused Of Harassment, Voyeurism, Breach Of Personal Security

In yet another video that surfaced on social media sites, a gang of media reporters from various Kannada Channels were also seen heckling a Muslim woman in Hijab at the Shimoga School, pestering her to comment on the ongoing Hijab row despite her disinterest in commenting or answering their questions.

The reporters continued to block her path and forcefully shoved microphones near her pressurizing her to comment on the subject while the woman tried to leave the premises.

The channels have also filmed humiliating footage of Muslim women professionals and students removing their Burkha and Hijab outside different educational institutions in the state.

In the latest addition to the Kannada media’s growing list of violations, some channels have reportedly tried to trespass at the residence of the Udupi’s Government College student Aliya Assad’s residence with hidden cameras. 

Aliya who took to Twitter posted, “”NIJATA”, “PRIVACY”, “ಗೌಪ್ಯತೆ” These are the words to be remembered who has media ethics. But what I’m seeing today is that most of them have forgotten the media ethics. @AsianetNewsSN has just crossed its limits by entering my home forcefully to harass with hidden camera”, the teenager lamented.

Similarly, numerous videos from various parts of the state have surfaced on the internet that shows the Kannada media’s complicity in the harassment, abuse, and discrimination of Muslim students in school and college campuses in Karnataka. 

After receiving several reports about instances of unethical reporting from the Kannada News Media, a delegation from the Campaign against Hate Speech visited the offices of Public TV News, Asianet Suvarna News, and TV9 News in Bengaluru on three different occasions.

However, the CAHS representatives revealed that from among the three channels, only the Asianet Suvarna News channel was receptive to their visit, while the editorial team and the channel representatives at Public TV and TV9 News refused to meet with the members of the Campaign or accept the letter from the delegation.

Speaking to The Cognate, members of the Campaign said, “The group, consisting of senior journalists, social activists, and lawyers, left after waiting for about an hour at their gate. The entire experience has been frustrating because the news channels have been extremely resistant to even meeting the team and hearing us out. The inaccessibility of Kannada news media is extremely worrying”, they expressed.

While some of the Kannada News Channels fall under the purview of the National Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA), the self-regulatory body set up by the News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA), notably, the body is not registered with the central government under the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2021.

Following the High Court’s order in 2019, although the Karnataka government had set up a 24×7 control room in Bengaluru to monitor programmes telecast on satellite and cable television channels in the state, the committee has largely been non-operational given the non-regulation of Kannada Media at present.

While the control room was supposed to receive complaints regarding the content aired by TV channels and assist citizens to lodge complaints after reviewing submitted grievances, no genuine action has come from the monitoring body.