Meena Kotwal

Meena had worked as a broadcast journalist at the Hindi language division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in New Delhi, India[2] from September 2017 to July 2019. She also contributes opinion pieces for The Wire, The Print, The Shudra, Youth Ki Awaz and Feminism in India.[3][4] Her open letter to popular Indian actress Kangana Ranaut was published by The Wire .[5] She has also worked for National Dastak, an online platform which focuses on the stories of marginalised identities.

She resides in Delhi and is known to focus her work around minorities. Her stories cover the issues concerning Dalits (unprivileged community), Muslims and Women. By writing about their plight, she tries to get them justice through her work.

She has done her graduation from Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) Central University, Delhi, Post-Graduation from Indian Institute of Mass Communication in Radio and Television Journalism and MPhil in Mass Communication from Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Central University. She has done some research papers on women and Dalit's issues.

In March 2014 she was awarded Lt. Alok Tomar Smriti's first scholarship, which gives excellence and Dalit student during their IIMC's Course. She awarded IIMCAA Award 2019 (IIMCAA: Indian Institute of Mass Communication Alumni Association) for her excellent journalism. As well, she got two awards from IIMCAA Award 2020. It was the first time when a journalist got awards for two different category based stories.

She found herself in the midst of controversy and backlash after burning the Manusmriti, which is the 'Dharmashastra' or ancient legal Hindu text that many believe "demeans women." She did this to commemorate Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar's metaphorical burning of the legal document containing the Hindu caste system in 1927. She posted a video of the burning, following which she began to receive death threats and was warned about her number being circulated on Whatsapp group chats.