Rana Ayyub. File. | Photo credit: A. ROY CHOWDHURY
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked Indian authorities to take immediate action to ensure the safety of Washington Post journalist and columnist Rana Ayyub and her family after she “received several threats over the phone from someone who knew her home address.”
“The threats of violence against Rana Ayyub and her father from an unknown international number are deeply troubling,” said CPJ India Representative Kunal Majumder.
“The authorities must act quickly to identify and prosecute those responsible and ensure the safety of all journalists in India so they can work without fear of intimidation or violence,” he said.
Ms. Ayyub told CPJ, and said in a November 3 police complaint, that on November 2 she received several video calls, phone calls and WhatsApp messages over the course of 20 minutes demanding she write a column about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which about 3,000 Sikhs were killed after the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
“The caller gave Ayyub’s home address and threatened to send people there to attack her and kill her father, who lives with her, unless she published the article, according to Ayyub and the complaint she filed at the Kopar Khairane police station in Navi Mumbai, in the Mumbai metropolitan area,” CPJ said in a statement.
CPJ said that in her complaint, Ms. Ayyub mentioned that the caller’s profile picture matched a photo of “gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is currently lodged in a Gujarat jail. CPJ was unable to identify Bishnoi’s lawyer or independently verify the connection between the caller and Bishnoi,” she said.
Ms Ayyub said police were sent to her residence for protection after threats were made.
“The prominent journalist’s social security number was leaked online last year, and her reporting has previously led to online trolling, official intimidation, criminal investigations, and rape and death threats,” CPJ noted.
Published – 04 Nov 2025 10:47 IST
