my previous years there was no throwing of candy into the crowd, noted to prevent a scrap d w coming up next a news asia to speak to a victim of an up in prominent muslim women up for auction and a fake online auction journalist of the volatile region of kashmir faced police, intimidation and threats. so he's in the hindu nationalist government trying to find it but as a child will have those dories and more in just a moment in d w. news asia, i'll be back at the top of the i've been with ah,

what people have to say matters to us. or that's why we listen to their stories. reporter every weekend on d w. t turn that knows all it's creators for everything. and we digitize everything from the hot commodity in this global experiment in our data. smart devices are embedded in our daily lives tracking our every move. the internet of everything starts in january, 17 on d, w. ah, you're watching d. w. news asia coming up a mystery phone app with a vicious purpose targeting prominent muslim women in india as part of an online

harassment campaign. plus journalists in the volatile region of kashmir, phase, police intimidation and threats. we look at accusations that india's hindu nationalist government is trying to silence them. ah, i melissa chan, thanks for joining us for the 2nd time in recent months in online ab appeared in india at targeting well known muslim women listing them as women for sale as part of an auction. the massage is dic harassment, campaign targeted journalists, activists, academics and others on social media. other women responded with outrage and horror . journalist runa, are you tweeted, quote, hindu nationalists are trying to silence the voice of muslim resistance and india. but we cannot be silenced from a con, says she's tired of being quote,

exotic sized, demonized, and patronized all at once. and zebb of r c writes, it's infuriating that this shameful crime happened again in india. it is because the last time it went on punished we have journalist deborah var, see from that last tweet with us. thanks for joining the program. thank you for having me been listen. can you tell us how you felt when you 1st learned that you were on this app? well, you know, just to give you some context, i woke up on your usb and you know you're fitted with hope and anticipation. it's generally a very positive day to begin with, and that's when i saw a bunch of mischief from my friends and colleagues from india that my picture and you know, my name is on that list. and my 1st taught this restoration and anger i was,

i was really furious. and also i was shocked. the fact that it's happened again, this is not the 1st time that a website like this a feel website like they've had seek online auction of mr. women in india and the last time around when it happened, it was less than a year ago, and there was no concrete action that was taken. there was the investigation still under way, but no person has been arrested in the previous case. which is why the, the, the sort of enjoy impunity to do it again. so my 1st thoughts were, i'm go and, you know, really upset and sort of helpless that it's happening again to not just me, but so many other listening women in the country. why do you think this is happening? well, this is adrian batten, a few really good. see that we're down 100 prominent indian listen women this time

with all that data missed. and all of these women, there's one common thread. the muslim did journalist activists, politicians, they basically active in the social space in india, they're walker, they walk all about issues in the country. they walker, specifically about the right thing in florida, will be at the country about, you know, increasing instances of heat crime against the mostly minority and the critical of prime minister. now in the mood, these policies, especially the ones which are discriminatory and the ones which have created an uproar in the recent years. so that's the common to actually if you are listening voice, if you are a woman and whistler voice in this country, you'll become a soft target. you also become a target for a certain group of individuals who i am voided by the hindu. right twain who also enjoy political patronage in this country. and you know this, this sort of ethnic spill and this bigotry in the deal is on the rise. and that's

why this is happening. it's very, very clear why these women are on the list. it's very clear why we was specifically targeted. it is in a patriarchal society like india, if you want to target the community, you target the women that's, that's exactly what's being done here. i'm water based, shut them into silence. now this time the government says they're investigating and we're seeing some arrests. do you have confidence build, track down all the prop perpetrators and that this time it won't happen again? well, it is certainly reassuring that after a note of outrage, this time around, we do see some sort of action being taken that have been for people have been arrested for young people have been arrested in the case so far and the investigation is proceeding in one by on your deli, but this has happened only after a nationwide outreach, and this has happened because they were questions,

at least about the last or about the inaction in the previous instance. so yes, it feels better, but i, we shouldn't have to demand action in such a case. i think it's the basic job or the law enforcement agency and the government to make us feel safe, whether it is from online threads or online bullying. or in this case, targeted attacks or, or threats offline as well. table varsity, thank you so much for sharing with us. thank you, melissa. ah, journalist based an indian administered kashmir have reported a rise in threats and intimidation tactics since the modi government brought the region under its direct control in 2019. this is being seen as a way of clamping down on criticism of prime minister to render modi's hindu nationalist government since delhi revoke the autonomy of indian administered

kashmir in august 2019 threats of arrests detention. and the intimidation of journalists have risen to a new level the amount of fear and uncertainty, the uncertainty that journalists are right now face is, is alarming levels. and it's very difficult right now for reporters to report stories on the ground. i mean, they can, with their houses, can be rated. we had to decent example of the police leading the premises and the house premises of one of the senior most journalists in cash meet 4 of them actually, and who were targeted for their reports. and you know, they were accused of the charges of getting in, of being involved in data related crimes, to crack down as seen as an attempt to silence criticism of the hindu nationalist government. some journalists have been arrested under anti terror laws. india ranks

142nd in the latest world press freedom index. that is the lack of accountability with which this kind of these kind of action actions that happening against journalists. we have seen doing this being looked in catalog, we haven't seen being booked in for 2 days. we have seen them. we looked in delhi or more often english, meet the biggest casualty of dis, crackdown has been the local press reporter. i gotcha. son recently made a troubling discovery. i recently did an investigation on how digital archives of newspapers in cuz me are being raised deliberately. they are saying categorically that it's because of the pressure from the government that they are forced to. if they've delete the digital archive, this is the hardwood off years of journalism by the report to us. local reporters, especially who have reported this conflict with unmatched death. local press have

started replacing stories, critical of the indian government, with official press releases and announcements because really newspaper has thrown into my mouth. it's because of the media policy. as i said already, that you have to get the news releases. you have to get the press release or government it's, you've meant gorman development in your newspaper rather than the important news. some reporters are deciding to leave journalism altogether. it is affecting my mental health. it's actually making me feel and making me think whether i should to journalism because, i mean, it's not always about me. also both my faded whenever something like this happens so do becomes quite make they had actually all that eat about we. i mean, it's really difficult for women journalist us to work in such an android. and so yeah, i think it is effecting me and it has made me self then said a lot journalists have tried to engage with authorities to end the escalating

crackdown on media. but there's no sign of the pressure easing. joining us as daniel by star head of the asia pacific desk at reporters without borders. welcome to the program. hi melissa. so what are you hearing from journalists in kashmir, about their ability to do their jobs? well, things have been kind of frozen in kashmir, as you may know who in a half years ago, the central government in yet decided to cancel the ultimately the of the autonomy of the territory. and since then, journalists have a very hard time just to perform their job. the some areas are totally blocked, to their, to their reporting. and they, yeah, there are many areas that can have access. and mostly there are subject to a ref, month from the, from the local government, and more specifically,

from the family. there are military troops that are, that are based in kashmir. can't the indian government responded to any of the criticism? no, to my knowledge, the indian government just say that things are not going smoothly and kashmir, and i had a talk with the minute 3 of the information and good guessing one year ago. and i asked him about his position on the, on me and you just told me that that everything is doing fine. the government is taking care of for us. we don't get me, which is totally different from what joel nissan grand kashmir, are telling me is what are they are telling me that they are subject to arrest man, which means being a radio, their home are being rated the media and me being rated and even some journalist

for b that broke down me that their family back home in kashmir, have 2 faith pressure from, from the authorities and, and development paramilitary. and so the indian government is saying everything is fine in kashmir, but let's look beyond that and say, look at the rest of the country. india is now ranked 100 and 42nd in the world, press freedom, an index report at. so why is that the case with this situation beyond kashmir? i would say that there are 2 tendencies wanting to see is the danger, the very physical danger that don't have to face mean. yeah, and that's not really new. i mean, that's not something that the new government created for last year, early in 2021. there has been fortunately, we're working because of their work in india. so that's a very big problem. the fact that journalist who investigates let's say

a sand map activities or alcohol trafficking, things like that, that have to face a threat. and the other aspect is the very strong influence that the government, the current government is having on media houses. and the fact that many journalists have to believe that they have to sell sensors themselves because their media house would not be okay with them criticizing too much the government. and that's a very worrying daniel best i thank you so much for joining us. we really appreciate it. that's it for thursday. thanks so much for watching. good bye. ah. for the battle against cove it the only clue variant is putting health care systems

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