NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Two days before the Nobel Peace Prize winners are declared, Time magazine on Wednesday described as a “favourite” for the global award India’s fact-checking website Alt News, Pratik Sinha, one of whose co-founders was arrested in June for a tweet they had posted in 2018.
The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), which releases an annual shortlist for the Peace Prize based on its research of peaceful relations between states, groups and people, has picked Indian social activist Harsh Mander and his organisation Karwan-e-Mohabbat. Time named Mander and Karwan-e-Mohabbat as “other contenders” for the Peace Prize.
Pointing out that “making a significant contribution to fighting religious extremism and promoting interreligious dialogue is…a compelling rationale for being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize,” PRIO said that Mander “is a worthy recipient of such a prize” along with Karwan-e-Mohabbat which was launched in 2017.
Sinha and Zubair also found mention in PRIO director Henrik Urdal’s shortlist where they are described as “worthy candidates for a prize focused on combating religious extremism and intolerance in India”.Time said in its report that Alt News co-founders Pratik Sinha and Mohammad Zubair “have relentlessly been battling misinformation in India, where Hindu nationalist BJP party has been accused of frequently stoking discrimination against Muslims. Sinha and Zubair have methodically debunked rumours and fake news circulating on social media and called out hate speech”.
Speaking to this newspaper, Sinha expressed surprise over the news. “We have to wait for Friday when the winners will be declared,” Sinha said, adding that they were never approached by anyone. “The PRIO may have picked us because of our work (on fact checking fake news) on digital media. They probably have representatives in almost all countries,” Sinha added.
PRIO conducts research on the conditions for peaceful relations between states, groups and people. Each year, the director of the institute presents his shortlist for the Nobel Peace Prize. The PRIO website mentions that the “Neither the director, nor the institute he leads, have any form of association with the Nobel Institute or the Norwegian Nobel Committee.” Zubair (40) was arrested on June 27 by the special cell, Delhi Police for a 2018 tweet. As per their FIR, the tweet was “highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite feelings of hatred.”
The Supreme Court on July 20 granted him interim bail in all the six cases registered against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police accusing him of hurting religious sentiments through his tweets.