Hindutva trolls target senior Indian journalist after appeal to stop war

Arfa Khanum Sherwani, an award-winning Indian journalist and senior editor of The Wire, has become a victim of online harassment after her personal contact information was allegedly leaked, triggering a wave of threatening and abusive messages.

Sherwani took to X to voice her outrage, describing the relentless onslaught of calls and messages over the past 24 hours as "dangerous" and "intolerable."

"For the past 24 hours, I’ve been receiving non-stop threatening messages and calls. This is harassment. This is dangerous. And this should not be tolerated," she wrote on X.

This doxxing incident appears to be a direct consequence of Sherwani's recent social media post, where she passionately advocated for peace and de-escalation amid Pakistan-India tensions, Maktoob Media reported.

Her post read: "Peace is patriotism. War is destruction. Borders don’t bleed—people do. Stop the war. Deescalate NOW!!!"

Screenshots shared by Sherwani reveal the deeply disturbing nature of the messages, many of which are steeped in Islamophobia and make inflammatory references to ongoing international conflicts. 

One particularly vile message falsely accused her of sympathising with "terrorist Pakistan," coupled with offensive depictions of desecrated Holy Quran. Another message questioned her national allegiance, suggesting she should relocate to Pakistan and accusing her of betraying India.

The torrent of abuse also included hateful slogans like "Long live Israel," "Long live idol worship," and disparaging remarks directed at the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). 

One message explicitly stated her phone number had been leaked on Twitter and sarcastically advised her to seek refuge with her supposed "handler," falsely linking her to Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News, has corroborated Sherwani's claims, identifying the X handle "Hindutva Knight," allegedly run by an individual named Chandan Sharma, as the source of the doxxing. 

Zubair also pointed out that the same X handle had previously targeted another prominent Indian investigative journalist, Rana Ayyub, with similar doxxing tactics.

The incident has drawn widespread condemnation from the journalistic community. 

Meena Mohan, a fellow journalist, described the act as "shameful" and called for immediate government intervention to curb such harassment.

Sherwani's post detailing the ordeal has been met with a barrage of hateful comments, many of which mock her earlier pleas for de-escalation and peace, demonstrating the toxic online environment journalists often navigate.

The doxxing of personal information, a malicious practice of publicly revealing private data online without consent, is increasingly being used as a tool to intimidate and silence journalists, particularly women, who are often disproportionately targeted.