DollyWootten0 at 00:51, 16 December 2025

2025-12-16T00:51:35Z

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{{Short description|Indian journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Meena Kotwal
| image = Meena Kotwal File Photo.jpg
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = [[Uttar Pradesh]], India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| other_names =
| known_for =
| education =
| employer =
| occupation = Journalist
| notable_works = the founder of ‘[[The Mooknayak]]’
| years_active = 2015–present
| alma_mater = [[Indian Institute of Mass Communication]] (2013-14 batch)<br />[[Jamia Millia Islamia]]<br />[[Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University]]
| website =
}}

'''Meena Kotwal''' is an Indian journalist, and the founder of ''[[The Mooknayak]]'', an online news channel and website focused on social justice for the Dalit, minority and marginalised people.<ref name="Arab News 2023">{{cite web | title=Dalit journalist takes aim at changing history with stories of India’s marginalized | website=Arab News | date=15 Mar 2023 | url=https://arab.news/var85 | access-date=7 Apr 2023}}</ref><ref name="Singh Singh 2023">{{cite web | last=Singh | first=Stuti Paul | title=FII Interviews: Journalist Meena Kotwal On Minority Politics, Journalism Today And The Caste Divide | website=Feminism in India | date=23 Feb 2023 | url=https://feminisminindia.com/2023/02/24/fii-interviews-journalist-meena-kotwal/ | access-date=7 Apr 2023}}</ref><ref name="Lal 2021">{{cite news |last1=Lal |first1=Neeta |title=In India, calls for a caste census grow as more seek to benefit from affirmative action policies |url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3149670/india-calls-caste-census-grow-more-seek-benefit-affirmative |access-date=29 July 2022 |work=[[South China Morning Post]] |date=22 September 2021}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Meena was raised in a Dalit neighborhood in New Delhi.<ref name="Singh NYT 2023">{{cite news |last1=Singh |first1=Karan Deep |title=With Stories of Her Oppressed Community, a Journalist Takes Aim at the Walls of Caste |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/world/asia/india-caste-discrimination-dalit-journalist-mooknayak.html |access-date=25 April 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 6, 2023}}</ref> Her parents earned little from their work as laborers.<ref name="Singh NYT 2023"/> Meena attended the [[Indian Institute of Mass Communication]], Delhi (2013-14 batch) and studied radio and television journalism.<ref name="2C 2020">{{cite news |title=Twocircles.net journalist Meena Kotwal wins IIMCAA Awards |url=https://twocircles.net/2020feb12/434419.html |access-date=1 July 2022 |work=TwoCircles.net |date=12 February 2020}}</ref> She also attended [[Jamia Millia Islamia]] (JMI), Delhi, and [[Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University]].<ref name="2C 2020"/>

Meena had worked as a broadcast journalist at the [[Hindi]] language division of the [[BBC|British Broadcasting Corporation]] (BBC) in [[New Delhi]], [[India]] from September 2017 to July 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-08-13|title=Dalit journalist accuses BBC Hindi of discrimination, says was let go due to caste|url=https://theprint.in/india/dalit-journalist-accuses-bbc-hindi-of-discrimination-says-was-let-go-due-to-caste/276287/|access-date=2022-01-25|website=ThePrint|language=en-US}}</ref> She has said her BBC contract was not renewed after she was outed as Dalit by a colleague and then experienced discrimination, and had her formal complaint denied as lacking "merit or substance" by the BBC.<ref name="Singh NYT 2023" />

She also contributes opinion pieces for [[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]], [[ThePrint|The Print]], The Shudra, Youth Ki Awaz and Feminism in India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meena Kotwal : Exclusive News Stories by Meena Kotwal on Current Affairs, Events at The Wire |url=https://thewire.in/author/meena-kotwal |access-date=2022-03-03 |website=The Wire}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Kotwal |first=Meena |title=Author: Meena Kotwal |url=https://hindi.feminisminindia.com/author/meena/ |access-date=2022-03-03 |website=फेमिनिज़म इन इंडिया |language=en-GB}}</ref> Her open letter to popular Indian actress [[Kangana Ranaut]] was published by The Wire,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Letter to Kangana Ranaut On Caste and Reservation |url=https://thewire.in/caste/kangana-ranaut-caste-dalit-reservation |access-date=2022-03-03 |website=The Wire}}</ref> and the republished in Indian languages and Nepali.<ref name="Singh Singh 2023"/> She has also worked for National Dastak, an online platform which focuses on the stories of marginalised identities.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

On 25 December 2021, she posted an online video of herself burning the [[Manusmriti]].<ref name="Bose 2022">{{cite news |last1=Bose |first1=Meghnad |title='Right Wingers Threatening to Rape Me for Burning Manusmriti': Dalit Journalist |url=https://www.thequint.com/news/india/hindutva-supporters-threatening-to-rape-me-for-burning-manusmriti-dalit-journalist-meena-kotwal#read-more |access-date=29 July 2022 |work=[[The Quint]] |date=12 January 2022}}</ref> She then began to receive death threats and [[Rape threat|rape threats]], and the Delhi Police registed a [[First information report|FIR]] about the threats.<ref name="Bose 2022"/> In January 2022, she explained her reasoning for burning the Manusmriti: "The Manusmriti contains a lot of anti-women and anti-Dalit content. [[Babasaheb Ambedkar]] had also burned the Manusmriti, on 25 December 1927. Since then, Ambedkarites have been observing the day as Manusmriti Dahan Divas."<ref name="Bose 2022"/> In February 2022, the [[United Nations special rapporteur|UN Special Rapporteur]] on Human Rights Defenders and others at the [[United Nations|UN]] wrote to the Indian government to express concern about the threats directed at Kotwal.<ref name="PT 2022">{{cite news |title=UN writes to India over inaction on death threats to Dalit journalist |url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/04/09/un-writes-to-india-over-inaction-on-death-threats-to-dalit-journalist/ |access-date=29 July 2022 |work=[[Pakistan Today]] |date=9 April 2022}}</ref>

She founded ''[[The Mooknayak]]'' in 2021,<ref name="Arab News 2023"/> and by 2023, employs 10 journalists.<ref name="Sharma 2023">{{cite news |last1=Sharma |first1=Saurabh |title=‘Leading the voiceless’ - how low-caste Indian journalists are crowdfunding their own newsrooms |url=https://institute.aljazeera.net/en/ajr/article/2091 |access-date=21 February 2023 |work=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] Journalism Review |date=February 13, 2023}}</ref> She has described it as "a Dalit-centred newsroom."<ref name="Sharma 2023"/> The stories published in ''The Mooknayak'' cover issues concerning [[Dalit]]s and other marginalized groups in India.<ref name="Singh NYT 2023"/><ref name="Lal 2021"/> By March 2023, the related [[YouTube]] channel for the online newspaper had 50,000 subscribers.<ref name="Arab News 2023"/>

==Honours and awards==
* 2020 [[Indian Institute of Mass Communication]] Alumni Association (IIMCAA) Award for Developmental Reporting<ref name="2C 2020"/>
* 2020 Indian Institute of Mass Communication Alumni Association (IIMCAA) Award for Investigative Reporting<ref name="2C 2020"/>

==Personal life==
Meena resides in New Delhi and has a daughter. She is married to Raja Pandey.<ref name="Singh NYT 2023"/>

==External links==
* {{Cite web |date=2022-04-07 |title=India: intimidation and threats against Meena Kotwal (joint communication) |url=https://srdefenders.org/india-intimidation-and-threats-against-meena-kotwal-joint-communication/ |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=UN SR Human Rights Defenders}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotwal, Meena}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Indian women journalists]]
[[Category:Journalists from Delhi]]
[[Category:Jamia Millia Islamia alumni]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Mass Communication alumni]]
[[Category:1986 births]]
[[Category:Dalit activists]]
[[Category:Dalit writers]]

Meena Kotwal - Revision history

DollyWootten0 at 00:51, 16 December 2025