Media’s ‘Corona Jihad’ lies go unpunished

In a long-overdue course correction, the Delhi High Court has quashed 16 FIRs filed against 70 Indian nationals who were accused of sheltering foreigners attending the Tablighi Jamaat gathering during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. The court found the charges untenable, adding to a growing list of acquittals and dismissals related to the event that was vilified as a national threat.

A detailed judgment is awaited, but the implications are al ready damning. This was not just about the misuse of state machinery or overreach during a pandemic. This was about an orchestrated campaign that painted a religious community as the enemy...a campaign turbocharged by primetime anchors, websites, WhatsApp forwards, and even govern ment submissions.

The phrase ‘Corona Jihad’ was not coined in a vacuum. It was manufactured, amplified, and broadcast to millions. Justice NV Ramana, during his tenure as Chief Justice of India, had flagged the communal slant of certain media coverage. The Bombay High Court too, in 2021, condemned the portrayal of Tablighi attendees as “villains” in what it called a media-led “persecution”.

The News Broadcasting Standards Authority directed Aaj Tak to remove misleading reports linking the Jamaat to a surge in Covid-19 cases, noting the absence of impar tiality and accuracy. But two questions remain unanswered: Who is accountable for this widespread vilification? And will there be consequences? This isn’t merely about righting a judicial wrong, it’s about setting a precedent.

Courts must go beyond dismissing charges and begin examining the systemic rot that enabled such vilification. Those who orchestrated and enabled this narrative; be it through misleading headlines, hate-filled broadcasts, or selective outrage must be identified and held liable. Because what happened in the wake of the Tablighi Jamaat gathering was not just bad journalism.

It was targeted misinformation. It was communal profiling. It was propaganda. Communities were demonised. Ordinary people were jailed. Lives were disrupted. And all of it was done in the name of ‘public health’ and ‘na tional security’, while real Covid violations went unreported or were brushed aside when committed by other groups.

The courts must do more than dispense justice case by case. They must establish accountabil ity, even if it means summoning newsrooms and editors. They must send a message that hate, under the garb of journalism, cannot be excused as free speech. Because when the truth finally arrives --years late --it shouldn’t find the culprit hiding behind prime-time ratings and expired hashtags. This country deserves a media that informs, not inflames. And it’s time the judiciary ensures that.