Raqib Hameed Naik
Raqib Hameed Naik is a Kashmiri journalist who founded the Hindutva Watch, a research project that documents hate crimes and hate speeches against religious minorities in India, and India Hate Lab, which studies hate speech, disinformation, and conspiracy theories targeting religious minorities.. He is also the founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Naik is the Pulitzer Center grantee.
Early life and education
Raqib was born to Kashmiri parents in Jammu and Kashmir. He did his early schooling Sri Ranbir Higher Secondary School, Jammu. He moved to Srinagar to complete his undergraduate studies at Amar Singh College. He then attended Jamia Millia Islamia. In 2018, he received a scholarship to study International Multimedia Journalism at the University of Bolton.Career
Raqib started his career as a staff reporter with Twocircles.net, where he stayed until 2017. In his early career, he was based in Kashmir. Later he reported from different Indian states. He was guest editor at Beyond Headlines. In 2018, he joined The Globe Post as its Indian correspondent.X Censorship Case
In January 2024, the Indian government geo-blocked the X handle of Hindutva Watch, followed by the blocking of its website along with India Hate Lab. The government issued blocking notices under Section 69A of the controversial Information Technology Act.In April 2024, Naik petitioned the Delhi High Court to challenge the illegal, arbitrary, and disproportionate blocking of Hindutva Watch’s X account and both websites. The petition named the Union of India and X Corp, the company owned by Elon Musk that manages X.
In September 2024, X Corp, for the first time in India, filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court in support of Naik, calling the Indian government’s blocking order a “disproportionate and unreasonable restriction.”