Top News

The News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) reprimanded multiple mainstream TV news channels for converting a fictional Class 3 NCERT story into a communal ‘love jihad’ narrative, and immediately directed them to take down the broadcasts.

The news channels that aired the story were India TV, News 18 Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh, Zee Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh, Zee News, and ABP News.

The order pertains to a letter written by a girl named Reena to Ahmed in a children’s environmental studies lesson titled, “Chitti Aayi Hai” (A letter has arrived). Using a communal angle on the letter, the mentioned TV channels insinuated that the letter written in the school textbook was an instance of “love jihad.”

‘Love jihad’ is a conspiracy theory that asserts that Muslim men lecherously lure Hindu women into romantic relationships under the pretext of converting them to Islam.

Paryavaran ki kitab, nikala love jihad ka chapter, Reena ne Ahmed ko kyu likha chitthi, School mein love jihad wali chitthi are some of the tickers that ran throughout the broadcast.

“Merely because in a chapter of a NCERT textbook, it is shown that a girl writes a letter to a boy, who belonged to a different religion, was no reason to give the narrative of ‘love jihad,’” the authority noted.

NBDSA stated that the news channels went further than simply covering a parent’s complaint, and “turned (it) into a debate… with a specific narrative,” without taking input from any education experts.

It noted that some broadcasters depended heavily on commentators “whose views are well known,” and failed to present other perspectives.

“The way programmes were structured clearly showed a lack of objectivity,” it said.

The authority ordered several news channels, including News18 MP/Chhattisgarh, ABP News, Zee MP/Chhattisgarh, Zee News, and India TV, to take down the videos in question. They must remove them from all their online platforms, including websites, YouTube channels, and all links, within seven days and officially notify the authority that they have done so.

The complaints were filed by advocates Indrajeet Ghorpade and Utkarsh Mishra.

The petition stated that all eight news programs claimed, implied, or promoted the baseless idea that a letter written by the fictional Class 3 character Reena to the character Ahmed was proof of “love jihad.”

“The curriculum and chapterisation is by NCERT, which is a government body, and its specific task is to prepare the curriculum and material for the books for school students. India is a secular country, which is the constitutional mandate as well. Therefore, giving of this slant to a particular chapter in an NCERT book by the broadcasters would amount to the violation of the Code of Conduct,” the order said.

No monetary penalty was imposed on the news channels, but they issued a clear disapproval of the handling of the story. It expressed hope that broadcasters would avoid communal framing while reporting sensitive matters.