On January 26, a video of a female journalist went viral on social media in which she alleged her previous employer forced her to convert to Islam. She further alleged even after two months of filing FIR, the Police has not taken any action. In the video, the woman said she used to work for an online YouTube-based news channel, News Action Network, that has an office in Preet Vihar, Delhi.
The Managing Director (MD) of the channel, Shan Chaudhary, used to pressure her to convert to Islam. He allegedly tried to lure her into converting on the pretext of increasing her salary, as per the woman’s complaint.
In a shocking revelation, a female journalist from a Youtube News Channel based in Delhi’s Preet Vihar alleged that the MD of the News Portal ‘Shaan Chaudhary’ forced her to convert Into Islam. #ForcedConversion #Islam #Delhi #PreetVihar #DelhiPolice pic.twitter.com/7CI17VIfNV
— Organiser Weekly (@eOrganiser) January 26, 2022
In the video statement, she said, “I am a journalist by profession. I was working with News Action Network, which is an online YouTube channel. MD of the channel, Shan Chaudhary, used to pressure me to convert to Islam. It made me feel nauseated. He used to say, ‘you look like a Muslim girl. If you convert to Islam, I will increase your salary from Rs 25,000 to Rs one lakh.’
She further added she resigned from the job, but the company held her salary for 45 days. On the 47th day, she was called to the office. The woman said, “When I reached there, I was called in Shan Chaudhary’s office where Ria Gupta, Roshni, and Mishra were already present. Shan abused me and used derogatory language. He even threatened to kill me. After that, I somehow managed to leave the office with the help of my associates and reach Preet Vihar Police Station. I tried to file an FIR at Preet Vihar Police station, but ASI Sohangir refused to file my FIR.”
After trying to file FIR for two days, Police finally registered the FIR. However, they allegedly did not initiate any investigation in the matter or collect any evidence. She added, “I contacted social activist Rajesh Bhasin and Aastha, who raised the issue on social media and helped get my statement recorded under Section 164. It has been two months, and three IOs have been changed, but the Police have not taken any action.”
There is a 33-minute live video uploaded on Rajesh Bhasin Facebook page where they detailed the incident.
In the video, they said Chaudhary has political links and contesting elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket from the Hasanpur Assembly seat. However, we could not confirm if Shan Chaudhary is contesting election on the Samajwadi Party ticket as the list released by SP named someone else. It is noteworthy that in some of the videos uploaded by News Action Network, Shan has been named as “Future SP Candidate”.
In the video uploaded by Bhasin, the woman alleged even after two months of recording the statement, the Police had not taken any action. Three investigation officers were changed during that period. She further claimed that she had asked the Police officer assigned to the case to check the video footage of the day of the incident, but nothing happened. She said, “Either take any action or tell me my case is a fake one. Close the case if you do not want to take any action.” She added the issue is not about the salary but justice. They further added that Shan had filed a defamation case against them.
