With no help forthcoming from authorities, a young Hindu lady journalist from Delhi is on the verge of suicide. The graduate with a degree in Mass Communication was pressurized to accept Islam by her employer and mentally and physically abused when she refused, but police are downplaying the matter. She was employed by Shanavas (Shaan) Chaudhary who runs a YouTube-based ‘news’ channel called News Action Network and has an office in Preet Vihar, Delhi. 

A live video was uploaded by a local social worker Rajesh Bhasin on his Facebook page where the lady described the torture, both mental and physical, she has undergone.

Shanavas told the victim that she looked ‘more like a Muslim’ and offered to pay her 1 lakh rupees instead of the 25,000 that she was being given as salary if she accepted his religious faith. Back then, disgusted, the young journalist left her job. The accused told her that he would settle her dues after 45 days. 

When she contacted the news channel on the 47th day, she was asked to come to their office after 4 PM. The unsuspecting young girl went there only to be abused and threatened by Shanavas Chaudhary and his staff – this included other lady staff with Hindu-sounding names who the victim says are all converts to Islam. While Chaudhary told her that she would be killed, another staff named Azam pushed her and tried to lock the doors from within. 

She managed to escape and immediately approached the police. Astonishingly, though the incidents began in November, Delhi police are yet to act against the Islamist who is said to be politically close to Samajwadi Party(SP) & Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders in Uttar Pradesh. The Preet Vihar police officers refused to even register an FIR even though the victim visited them several times. She said that it was an Assistant Sub Inspector named Sohangir who repeatedly refused to file her complaint. 

The Hindu girl said that three investigating officers have been changed in the past three months. She informed the police that all they have to do is check the multiple CCTV cameras installed in the News Action Network office but the officer assigned to investigate came back and told her that the footage had been deleted! 

The victim said that no action has been initiated or evidence collected against either Shanavas Chaudhary or the other accused who pushed, shoved and abused her. The young journalist then approached the Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP on January 10 but again nothing happened.

Local police said that the ‘real issue’ was the nonpayment of salaries, but the victim has denied this is the root cause. The journalist said that she is educated enough to approach courts to recover unpaid salaries. Looking horribly depressed and in tears, she said she just wants justice for the abuse she suffered.

Even if we believe the police theory that the dispute is just about unpaid salary, why haven’t they registered an FIR and taken action against Shanavas Chaudhary for recovery? It is often seen that police forces across the country act with apathy when ordinary Hindus approach them for justice. Why? Because police knows Hindus are not organized enough to raise a hue & cry, threaten street violence and activate political-NGO ecosystem to put pressure.

Hindu social workers Rajesh Bhasin and Aastha then took up her cause. They raised the matter on social media and helped get her statement recorded under Section 164 before the district magistrate. The Hindu leaders lamented that since the young girl was not a Dalit or from the minority communities, not a single organization including the ones allied with the BJP came forward to help them.

News Action Network usually shows ‘news’ about Shanavas himself and the latest video showed him sulking after the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) denied him a party ticket for the upcoming UP elections from Hasanpur. Earlier, his channel had portrayed Shanavas as a Samajwadi Party candidate.

Shanavas claimed that he was suffering from ‘depression’ after Rajesh took up the Hindu girl’s cause and his lawyer sent a notice claiming compensation of 7 lakh Rupees. That very same day, the supposedly ‘depressed’ Shanavas was seen canvassing for himself with other Islamist cronies. 

Even as atrocities against women mount, the Delhi Commission for Women and rabidly anti-Hindu Aam Aadmi party puppet, Swati Maliwal is nowhere to be seen or heard. It seems, her fury is reserved for cases lodged against Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati.

All that the police have to admit is that they will not be able to provide me with justice and I will end my life, the poor victim said in the video.