India: media worker and WHRD house visited by intruders
Event- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Jan 25, 2021
- Event Description
In a social media statement, Dixit revealed that at around 9pm on January 25, an unidentified person attempted to break into her house in Delhi, fleeing when she shouted and opened the door. The incident follows a series of harassment and intimidation attempts, including threats of rape, acid attack and murder, by an unidentified group since September 2020. According to the statement, Dixit said the threats were entirely related to her role as a journalist. Several mobile numbers and different voices were used to threaten her. She further stated that the stalkers also target her partner.
Dixit received the first telephone threat in September 2020 while at a market. The unknown voice threatened, “Sabzi lay rahi hai na tu. Bada reporter banti hai. Jaan jayegi teri” (translating to “You are buying vegetables, right? You think you are a big shot reporter? You will die.”). The calls have increased in frequency, coming from different unidentified numbers. Dixit has filed a complaint with local police.
Dixit, whose stories have been published in The New York Times, Al-Jazeera, Caravan and The Wire, is known for her ground-breaking investigative stories concerning female trafficking in Assam and gender-based violence against minority women during the Muzaffarnagar riots.
A global survey by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2020 highlights the widespread online abuse, harassment, threats, and attacks suffered by female journalists. In accordance with these findings, there have been many instances of attempted character assassination, doxing (disclosure of personal identifying information) and even threats of physical and sexual violence against female journalists in India.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Gender Based Harassment
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Online
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 28.61628311790231
Longitude: 77.20958151540704
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 25 January 2021, unknown intruders forcibly entered the house of Neha Dixit, media worker and WHRD, as the latest of a series of harassment and threats she has been receiving as result of her reporting on women's issues including gender-based violence in Delhi, India.