Kashmiri journalist faces abuse after report on India voter deletions
Quratulain Rehbar faces abuse after Nikkei Asia report on West Bengal voter roll revision linked to removal of Muslim voters
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Kashmiri journalist Quratulain Rehbar has been subjected to online abuse and alleged doxxing by Hindutva-linked accounts after her report on voter list changes in eastern India was published in Nikkei Asia.
Rehbar, an independent journalist who has contributed to outlets including Al Jazeera, came under attack following her report on West Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — a large-scale voter verification exercise that has resulted in the deletion of a significant number of names from voter lists.
Her reporting drew attention to concerns that the revision process has led to the removal of large numbers of voters, with Muslim communities seen as among those most affected in several areas.
Soon after publication, social media platforms were flooded with abusive and communal messages targeting her identity as a Kashmiri Muslim woman. Several posts accused her of spreading “fake news” and framed her journalism as a threat to national security, while others used slurs and linked her Kashmiri Muslim identity to unrelated political narratives.
The attacks included attempts to discredit her work by dismissing the voter deletions as routine administrative cleanup, even as her report highlighted the scale and impact of removals ahead of elections.
Supporters, including journalists and media observers, condemned the targeting and described it as an effort to intimidate independent reporting, particularly when it reaches international audiences. They also raised concerns about doxxing — the public exposure of personal information — which can increase risks to journalists beyond online spaces.
The controversy centers on the SIR process, through which election authorities conduct intensive checks to update voter rolls. While officially presented as a mechanism to remove duplicate or ineligible entries, the exercise has triggered alarm due to the scale of deletions and the potential impact on marginalized communities.
Analysts note that such voter roll revisions, when carried out without transparency or safeguards, can effectively strip sections of the population of their voting rights — a concern that has gained urgency in the lead-up to elections.
The targeting of Rehbar underscores a broader pattern in India, where journalists — especially women and those from minority backgrounds — face coordinated online harassment when reporting on politically sensitive issues involving elections, identity and state policy.
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