India: Chameli Devi Jain Awards are released. CFWIJ congratulates the journalism of the recipients.

October 17, 2020, New Delhi, India -- The Wire‘s senior editor Arfa Khanum Sherwani and freelance journalist Rohini Mohan were jointly awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediaperson, 2019, on October 12.

The award, named after freedom fighter and community reformer Chameli Devi Jain, was first given in 1982 and since then has been named a woman journalist who has made a difference through her work.

Sherwani, who hosts two video shows on The Wire – ‘Arfa ka India’ and ‘Hum Bhi Bharat’ – was awarded for “her insightful investigative reports about the rise of private militias and growing sectarian and caste clashes in the town of Gorakhpur, and the brutal suppression of the revolt of beleaguered Dalits and tribals in Sonbhadra”.

Recognising “her grit and honesty”, the citation also noted that Sherwani was “one of the first journalists to visit the Kashmir Valley after the revocation of Article 370” and that she “reported frequently from inside the Valley, at considerable risk to herself” and documented “the failures of the democratic State, detailing those who have bent democratic institutions depriving already weaker sections of our society”.

Sherwani has won several awards in the past, including the RedInk Award for TV journalism and the Committee to Protect Journalists recently released a statement urging BJP leaders to stop encouraging online vitriol directed at her.

Rohini Mohan was awarded for  “exceptional reportage from Assam on the events surrounding the controversy over the citizenship issue” which “filled a major gap in the nation’s understanding of a distant part of India”.

Recognising her “integrity and perseverance”, the statement said that she “demonstrated a capacity for combining a reporter’s curiosity and inquisitiveness with an admirable sensibility and respect for decency”. The citation also noted Mohan’s work in troubled spots like Sri Lanka and lauded her “courage, clear-headedness and a commitment to tell it as it is”.

Mohan is the winner of several awards and has published two books based on her journalistic work on Sri Lanka’s civil war. She has won The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and Tata Literature Live! First Book Award (Nonfiction). She has written for The Wire several times.

Additionally, Rukmini S, an independent data-journalist from Chennai, received honourable mention for “her sharp and analytical journalistic work” and “her ability to interpret dry data into interesting stories on contemporary issues”

The Coalition For Women In Journalism congratulates the journalism of the recipients of the awards. We will keep supporting women journalists and will keep cheering for quality journalism.