Hyderabad Durga Idol vandalism: Zee News faces backlash over coverage

The right-leaning channel Zee News has faced significant backlash after the channel communalised the vandalism of a Durga idol in Hyderabad, with its narrative calling it a “War on Hindus”.

The incident which occurred during the Devi Sharan Navaratri celebrations at the Nampally Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad on Thursday, October 10, involved a person damaging the idol, leading to protests from the Hindu community who blocked main roads. It was later found by the police that the person responsible was a Hindu man who was unstable/

In a Prime-time program, Zee News featured the image of Hyderabad Muslim MP Asaduddin Owaisi while dramatizing the incident as an attack on Hinduism and Hindus. The anchor is seen in a provocative tone saying “Hyderabad mai chaddi Dhra Yudh”, meaning that religious conflict has broken in Hyderabad.

The channel also telecasted the footage of Asaduddin Owaisi and Rahul Gandhi suggesting that both leaders were claiming secularism “though the incident raised doubts about the personalities”. The show then features BJP leader Madhavi Latha stating that she will expose now their “fake secularism”.

Another right-wing site OpIndia.com, known for its controversial and often misleading reporting also came under fire for its coverage of the vandalism incident. The outlet wrote, “Extremists vandalise idol of Goddess Durga amid Navratri celebrations, destroy CCTV and damage Puja items.”

Following the police investigation revealed that the accused belongs to the Hindu community identified as Krishnaiah Goud, Nupur Sharma Chief Editor of OpIndia immediately took to social media maintaining that the outlet had only referred to “extremists” in its reporting. However, netizens did not take long to point out OpIndia’s track record of biased coverage against Muslims.

Police statement

Speaking on the incident, DCP central Akshansh Yadav said, Krishnaiah Goud, is mentally disturbed and is a native of Nagarkurnool district. “At 8:15 pm, we apprehended the accused at Feelkhana area. He is mentally unstable and doesn’t disclose many details. Two cases were registered one against Krishnaiah and another case against the organizers for failing to take proper security measures,” the officer added.

The DCP said the accused came to the exhibition grounds in Hyderabad at 9:30 pm when the Dandiya program was going on. He stayed in the ground and around 3 am, he went to the pandal and damaged the Durga idol.

Critics have pointed out that many right-wing news channels including Zee News rushed to pass judgement on the vandalisation of a Durga idol before the police investigation was complete. Questing the ethics of journalism, they alleged that such narratives could incite communal tensions and demanded legal action from Hyderabad Police to curb misleading news.

While tagging to Hyderabad Police commissioner, Fact checker Mohammed Zubair wrote, “What action will be taken against News Channels like who intentionally try to communalise an unfortunate incident of Idol Vandalism?”