Meena Kotwal

Meena Kotwal is an Indian journalist, and the founder of The Mooknayak, an online news channel and website focused on social justice for the Dalit, minority and marginalised people.

Biography Meena was raised in a Dalit neighborhood in New Delhi. Her parents earned little from their work as laborers. She also attended Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Delhi, and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University. She has said her BBC contract was not renewed after she was outed as Dalit by a colleague and then experienced discrimination, and had her formal complaint denied as lacking "merit or substance" by the BBC. Her open letter to popular Indian actress Kangana Ranaut was published by The Wire, and the republished in Indian languages and Nepali. She then began to receive death threats and rape threats, and the Delhi Police registed a FIR about the threats.

She founded The Mooknayak in 2021, She has described it as "a Dalit-centred newsroom." The stories published in The Mooknayak cover issues concerning Dalits and other marginalized groups in India. By March 2023, the related YouTube channel for the online newspaper had 50,000 subscribers.

Honours and awards 2020 Indian Institute of Mass Communication Alumni Association (IIMCAA) Award for Developmental Reporting 2020 Indian Institute of Mass Communication Alumni Association (IIMCAA) Award for Investigative Reporting

Personal life Meena resides in New Delhi and has a daughter. She is married to Raja Pandey.