Indifference to Islamophobia is complicity: Journalist Fatima Khan

“The screenshots sent shivers down my spine,” wrote journalist Fatima Khan in a tweet nearly a year ago, describing seeing a viral screenshot of an app doing the rounds on social media, which dubbed her as “the sulli deal of the day”.
Khan, along with other prominent Muslim women were subject to cyber harassment when they were “auctioned” in the Git Hub scandal under the banner of Sulli Deals in July of last year.
However, Fatima is more than just a survivor of online harassment. Presently working for The Quint, Fatima was recently shortlisted for the Human Rights and Religious Freedom (HRRF) journalist of the year, as her reporting on atrocities against Muslims gained a lot of traction.
Currently based in New Delhi, she has covered the anti- Citizenship Amendment Act protests, confrontations between Rajasthan’s tribal populations and Hindu organisations, attack on Christians in Haryana, and several other pertinent socio-political issues that have afflicted India in recent years.
Fatima Khan spoke with Siasat.com about what it’s like to be a Muslim woman in India’s media industry.
What was the most difficult reporting experience you had to face? In terms of reporting, covering the second wave of Covid-19 was enormously challenging. It was a trying time for the entire country, but stepping out and reporting in those times was an arduous task for everyone in the media community. Apart from that, covering the 2020 Delhi riots was of course very exacting- physically, mentally, and emotionally.