Sreedathan, the founder and managing director of the website Indus Scrolls has accused Newslaundry ‘journalist’ of misquoting him in her quest to whitewash the terror links of the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) member and ‘dubious’ journalist Siddique Kappan, who is languishing in UP jail for conspiring to create communal tension in Hathras.
“@newslaundry’s @akanksha_kumar3 washes Islamist dirty linen, to whitewash terror accused Siddique Kappan she weaves of web of lies, hides facts …misquotes @Sreedath despite repeated requests. After report, Islamists target @indusscrolls founder”, Tweeted the website Indus Scrolls while sharing the link of an article published on its website, detailing how the far-left website Newslaundry ‘journalist’ misconstrued Sreedathan’s statements to suit her narrative.
@newslaundry‘s @akanksha_kumar3 washes Islamist dirty linen, to whitewash terror accused Siddique Kappan she weaves of web of lies, hides facts …misquotes @Sreedath despite repeated requests. After report, Islamists target @indusscrolls founder https://t.co/vj4EISIf6K
— Indus Scrolls (@indusscrolls) November 5, 2021
The article published by Indus Scrolls on November 5, 2021, headlined “Newslaundry’s Akansha Kumar washes Islamist dirty linen; weaves a web of lies, hides facts to whitewash Kappan’s terror links”, gives details of how Akansha Kumar, a ‘journalist’ working for far-left propaganda website Newslaundry distorted Sreedathan’s quotes to build a pro-Kappan narrative and hide Siddique Kappan’s terror links.
The article by Indus Scrolls firstly negated the claim made by the Newslaundry journalist that Kappan had filed a defamation case against Sreedathan or Indus Scrolls. Through this, she wants to drive home the message that Sreedathan holds some personal grudge against Kappan, further, sharing Sreedathan’s take on the matter.
It may be noted that Newsluandry had on October 23, 2021, published an article titled: “Siddique Kappan’s chargesheet: The curious case of G Sreedathan and a source called WhatsApp”, written by Akansha Kumar. The archived version of the article can be viewed here.
The same report was published by Newslaundry Hindi on November 3.
In the report, ‘journalist’ Akansh Kumar claimed: “Months before his arrest, Kappan had sent a defamation notice to Sreedathan”. The report further claimed that the UP police’s special task force had relied heavily on a statement by G Sreedathan, founder of the website Indus Scrolls.
The Newlaundry report claims that Siddique Kappan had sent a legal notice to G Sreedathan, the founder of the website Indus Scrolls on April 5, 2020, “after an article on Indus Scrolls claimed Kappan was involved in spreading fake news about the death of two students of Jamia University and propagating anti-Hindu news with the help of funds from PFI (Popular Front of India).”
Indus Scrolls has vehemently refuted this claim saying that the claim that Kappan had filed a defamation case against Sreedathan or Indus Scrolls is a lie.
“Till this date, I have not received any defamation notice from anyone, leave alone Kappan. I don’t know Kappan personally. Indus Scrolls published the report on Kappan as his acts were anti-national. There were several questions about him and his activities under the cover of journalism. Since Kumar has access to the Islamist circles, I would request her to share a copy of the defamation notice with me. But more importantly, if Kumar is correct, the question is who has funded him, a freelance journalist with a measly salary, to engage a high-profile lawyer to file a defamation suit?”, Indus Scrolls quoted Sreedathan as saying.
Secondly, Indus Scrolls claimed that the Newslaundry journalist, through her report, tried to give an impression that the UP Police had relied only on the reports published by Indus Scrolls to prepare a 5,000-page charge sheet.
Indus Scrolls, piqued with Newslaundry’s shoddy journalism, quoted it founder as saying: “I don’t think she is too naïve to believe that the UP Police had built their case on the basis of our two small Malayalam reports. They have highly efficient officers and investigators and they know their job. By publishing such half-baked and fake stories aimed at building a narrative, Akansha is helping the Islamist cause. If the voluminous charge sheet was built on flimsy facts, why did the courts not give Kappan bail? Let them fight it in courts, not in media.” (She should at least have read the trial court order denying bail to Kappan.)
Indus Scrolls pointed out that another problem with the report written by Akansha Kumar was that she had sought to build a narrative solely on the basis of the defence lawyer’s claims. “What is a defence lawyer expected to do? Will he say that his client is a terrorist? It is like preparing a theft report on the sole basis of the thief’s statements. This is ridiculous,” the report quoted Sreedathan as saying.
Most notably, the Indus Scrolls report detailed how the Newslaundry journalist misquoted Sreedathan and withheld portions of a Whatsapp conversation he sent to Akansha Kumar that revealed Kappan’s direct ties to PFI.
Indus Scrolls submitted screenshots of Sreedathan and Akansha Kumar’s Whatsapp conversation to show how Newslaundry’s writer misquoted Sreedathan and rejected his request to correct it.
According to Indus Scrolls, before filing the report, Akansha had called up Sreedathan for his comments on the charge sheet and the Kappan reports published on his website. He had explained Kappan’s links with PFI. Since Sreedathan had expressed his reluctance to engage in a long conversation with her, Akansha sent Sreedathan some questions on Whatsapp and requested him to answer them.
In his answer, Sreedathan had explicitly spoken about the arrested journalist Siddique Kappan links with the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI). It is evident from the fourth and fifth screenshots of the Whatsapp conversation shared above, that Sreedathan had distinctly spoken about Kappan’s link with the PFI.
Sreedathan wrote to Akansha Kumar how Kappan was working for Thejas, the mouthpiece of PFI. He further mentioned that Kappan held some national level positions in NCHRO, a human rights group floated by PFI. Sreedathan clearly mentions in his Whatsapp message to Akansha Kumar that the “UP police chargesheet stated that Kappan attended several PFI and acted as a facilitator for PFI”.
These facts, which are of paramount importance in the Kerala-based ‘journalist’ Siddique Kappan case was conveniently left out from the report written by the Newslaundry journalist.
While Kumar included other Sreedhatan comments, she methodically omitted words that clearly did not fit her narrative in order to exonerate Kappan of all terror linkages.
Slamming the Newslaundry journalist for maliciously fabricating facts, Indus Scrolls wrote: “To the benefit of Akansha and others who peddle the fake narrative that Kappan has no PFI links should go through the charge sheet. According to the charge sheet, Kappan visited several countries, including Georgia and South Africa while he was working with Thejas, the mouthpiece of PFI. The charge sheet has conclusively established Kappan’s links with PFI, like his participation in a secret workshop that deliberated on creating communal disturbances and riots”.
“The charge sheet also mentions that Kappan’s “services” were praised in the organization report presented at the PFI annual conference. Reporters like Akansha should read these portions of the charge sheet before giving ‘reliability certificates’ to journalists and accusing them of spreading false information”.
“Kappan used to stay in the office of the National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO), an NGO associated with PFI. Kappan’s wife claimed that he was staying in the NCHRO office, as he had a meagre salary. PFI martial arts trainer Anshad Badruddin was sharing the room with Kappan in NCHRO. This clearly indicates the link between PFI and NCHRO. Besides, NCHRO has intervened, organized protests, and provided legal assistance to PFI activists when they were arrested in terror-related cases”, read the Indus Scrolls report, leaving not an iota of doubt that media houses like Newslaundry are not only running a malicious campaign to make a hero out of terror accused Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan but are also steadfast in targetting the reputation and silencing journalists and individuals who write or speak against the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI).
Newslaundry regularly resort to shoddy journalism
Though reprehensible, this sought of irresponsible journalism is only expected from the far-left media house Newslaundry. Only last month India Today had sued Newslaundry ‘journalists’ over articles published on the website and had sought damages of Rs 2 crores and permanent injunctions, Newslaundry ‘journalist’ Ayush Tiwari had said.
India Today had alleged that Newslaundry had committed copyright infringement and made “untrue, unfair, disparaging as well as maliciously defamatory remarks about the channel’s News, Reporting, Management & its News Anchors”.
In August this year, a tweet went viral where Newslaundry and The Print columnist Aveek Sen was seen calling for the rape of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. After Sen embarked on his campaign, numerous tweets of his went viral on the platform. In the tweets, he could be seen using vile abusive language against his detractors and others.
Sen has made several tweets objectifying women. In one particular instance, Aveek Sen harassed a woman who appeared to be a Baloch. After the woman thanked Sen for supporting the Baloch, his line of questioning veered towards extremely creepy behaviour.
Furthermore, whenever Newslaundry is referenced, it becomes imperative to recall the Newslaundry columnist and former Aligarh Muslim University student leader Sharjeel Usmani. In May 2021, Maharashtra Police had registered an FIR against Usmani for posting objectionable tweets against Hindus on Twitter. He had earlier celebrated the death of Aaj Tak news anchor Rohit Sardana.
