India: The Editor of National Paper Hindustan Times who set up the unique Hate Tracker database quits

[EDITOR OF HINDUSTAN TIMES (HT)  QUITS SUDDENLY.
Bobby Ghosh suddenly upped it and left as editor of HT after 14 months. He has gone back to New York. While he was at HT he started the HT hate tracker which was a record of all hate crimes in the country. The PMO didn't exactly appreciate that. Ghosh is gone now. HT management has issued internal orders no to update it any more. Soon it will go down.]

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ht-hate-tracker-a-national-database-on-crimes-in-the-name-of-religion-caste-race/story-xj2o03dKF9PsW4IYIEvdgI.html

HT Hate Tracker: A national database on crimes in the name of religion, caste, race

Hate Tracker will be a crowd-sourced database of hate crimes in India since September 2015.

india Updated: Jul 28, 2017 14:11 IST

Niha Masih
Hindustan Times

When a mob lynches a Muslim man on the suspicion of possessing beef, it is recorded as a murder. When a North-Eastern or African student is verbally abused, it is recorded as an obscene act. When a gay man is beaten because of the way he looks and acts, it is recorded as an assault.
In all these situations, violence or abuse may be punished, but bigotry is not. Part of the problem is lack of laws dealing with hate crimes. The closest thing in the Indian legal system is The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which criminalises a range of activities prejudicial to Dalits and members of scheduled tribes.
As a result, there is a dearth of information about the power and influence of hate. That makes it impossible to know the extent of the problem. There is no national database of hate crimes.
Hindustan Times intends to fill this void. Today we are launching a webpage that will track acts of violence, threats of violence, and incitements to violence based on religion, caste, race, ethnicity, region of origin, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Our project relies on international standards to determine what counts as a hate crime. These criteria include, for example, the victim’s religion, appearance and the offender’s possible use of slurs. The figures and descriptions of the list on this page are drawn from news stories in the English-language press and reports from civil society organizations. But these sources are not adequate on their own.
We’re asking you, our reader, to send us pieces you spot in news, to share your own stories, and to give us more details of cases we’ve already listed. To make our database comprehensive, and to understand the scope of hate, we need your help.
Click on the Hate Tracker to visit the database and get involved.