In a recent incident, the Times of India appears to have edited one of their reports concerned with the recent controversy surrounding the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
3 Muslim AMU students wrote on SM “Nara-e-Tak-Beer, Kingfisher-Akbar.. Kingfisher Akbar”. They drank liquor during Iftar of Ramazan. Now, 3 AMU students booked for distorting Islamic religious slogan.
TOI changed the content but i took screenshot:
1) Real Report
2) Edited Report pic.twitter.com/rFL711Guyb— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) June 9, 2018
The TOI had earlier reported the AMU controversy mentioning that the Muslim students had distorted Islamic slogans but soon retracted the story. It later presented the same report after editing the content by removing the offensive words related to Islam. This appears to be another cover-up done by the media to ignore the real nature of the incident.
This incident with the Aligarh Muslim University appears to be same. Three Muslim students from Aligarh Muslim University, while celebrating the Iftar party, wrote on the social media “Nara-e-Tak-Beer, Kingfisher-Akbar, Kingfisher Akbar”. It is alleged that they consumed liquor during the month of Ramzan, which is alleged to be against the Islamic principles.
Soon after that, some sections of the AMU filed the complaint against the students for allegedly posting Islamic religious slogans with derogatory remarks. The complaint also said that the post by students has hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims. The post was shared by Bhole Vishwakarma, who, according to his Twitter and Facebook profile, is a writer and photographer based in New York.
In the original report, the Times of India mentions the words used by Vishwakarma, but the edited report have clevery removed them.
These incidents of media ignoring basic facts while reporting sensitive issues are uncommon these days. Some left-leaning media had earlier carefully omitted and retracted stories related to alleged crimes committed by the members of minority community, while deliberately bringing Hindu religion even to those crimes committed by the Muslims.
The police registered a case against the three students under section 295 of India Penal Code (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs). They were also booked under IT Act. The president of AMU Students Union said the post was “gross”. He also said, “Strict action should be taken against whosoever is responsible for it.”
Aligarh Muslim University has been always controversial since its inception. Recently, the university was caught in the controversy for placing the portrait of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
