Rush Hour: NDTV criticised by regulator for ‘thook jihad claims, petrol prices up again & more

The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority cautioned NDTV against using the term “thook jihad” in a generalised and stereotypical manner after a programme depicted a cook allegedly spitting on rotis.

“Thook jihad” or spit jihad is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that claims that Muslims deliberately spit into food to spread disease among Hindus.

A complaint about the broadcast had been registered with the news regulator in December 2024 about a widely circulated video from Meerut that purportedly showed a man spitting on rotis as he made them. NDTV described the claimed incident as “thook jihad” and allegedly suggested that similar acts were being reported from other places.

The channel said that it had voluntarily removed the video. It claimed that the word “jihad” was not intended to attribute the act to any particular community. However, the regulator rejected the argument, adding that the term itself carried an implicit meaning. Read on.

Hindutva has found a new target – “gym jihad”, writes Sneha.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Assam introduced a bill on the Uniform Civil Code in the Assembly seeking to ban polygamy and make registration of live-in relationships compulsory.

The bill is slated to be taken up for discussion on Wednesday.

The bill proposes to make it mandatory for live-in relationships to be registered...

Read more