News regulator orders five channels to remove shows linking NCERT textbook chapter to ‘love jihad’

The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority on Tuesday directed five news channels to take down eight shows that linked a National Council of Educational Research and Training textbook to a “love jihad” conspiracy.

The complaint concerned the misrepresentation of a fictional letter in an old NCERT Class 3 Environmental Studies chapter titled Chitti Aayi Hai. The letter, written by a character named Reena to another character, Ahmed, was wrongly projected by the television channels as evidence of a love jihad conspiracy, according to the complaint.

Love jihad is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that Muslim men trick Hindu women into romantic relationships with the aim of converting them to Islam. The Union home ministry has told Parliament that Indian law has no provision defining such a term.

The programmes challenged by complainants Indrajeet Ghorpade and Utkarsh Mishra were aired on India TV, News18 MP/Chhattisgarh, Zee MP/Chhattisgarh, Zee News and ABP News.

In its December 2 order directing the removal of the videos, the regulatory body noted that just because an NCERT chapter shows a girl writing a letter to a boy from another religion, it does not justify being described as love jihad.

Retired Justice AK Sikri, the chairperson of the regulatory body, observed that India is a secular country, “which is the constitutional mandate as well”.

“Therefore, giving of this slant to...

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