Bengaluru, March 05, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Karnataka Police have registered an FIR against journalist and author Rana Ayyub for allegedly describing the students and others who have been harassing and intimidating the hijab-wearing Muslim students in Karnataka as “Hindu terrorists” during a television interview.

The FIR was registered at Vidyagiri Police Station in Dharwad city of Karnataka under section 295 A of Indian Penal Code following a complaint by one Ashwath, a member of Hindu IT Cell. A Hindutva group, Hindu IT Cell is known for harassing and threatening Muslims across India. Ashwath had filed the complaint following an interview Ayyub gave to BBC.

“Another case has been registered against me, in Karnataka, by the same Hindu right wing group, for ‘hurting Hindu sentiments’ in my interview on the Hijab ban and the intimidation of Muslim women. To the government and its cronies, this won’t stop me from speaking the truth,” tweeted award winning journalist Rana Ayyub.

Last week, United Nations-appointed independent rights experts issued a statement calling upon India to end relentless misogynistic and sectarian attacks against journalist Rana Ayyub. Rana Ayyub, independent journalist and defender of women’s human rights, continues to be the target of intensifying online harassment by far-right Hindu nationalist groups, they said.

They pointed to the attacks as resulting from Rana Ayyub’s reporting on issues affecting Muslims in the country, her criticism of the government for its handling of the pandemic, and comments that she made on a recent ban on hijabs at schools and colleges in Karnataka.

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