Javed Anand

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Javed Anand is an Indian journalist and a human rights activist. He is also popular for being the husband of the civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad.While studying at IIT Bombay, Javed, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, participated in the peace rallies, which were being conducted against the United States of Americas unwanted military intervention in Vietnam. While giving an interview, Javed said, In the late 1960s and early 70s, the students movement was very big, with protests against the United States role in Vietnam. I ended up joining a social action group..In 1971, after completing his engineering at IIT Bombay, Javed Anand joined a social action group, Rapid Economic Development of India, which was established by ex-IITians, with an aim of fighting injustice against the deprived classes of India.Javed Anand entered the world of journalism in 1971 when he was employed as a columnist by a Mumbai-based newspaper, The Daily.Javed Anand got the much-awaited break in his journalistic career when he was given the responsibility of covering the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India. He covered this event along with his wife, Teesta Setalvad, who, back then, was also working with The Daily in Bombay. The reporting of the duo earned them appreciation from other renowned journalists.In 1988, Javed Anand submitted a petition signed by more than 300 journalists to the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra to take action against Bal Thackeray, who had threatened to economically boycott the Sikhs living in Maharashtra. In an interview, Javed said, I remember in 1988, when Bal Thackeray had called a press conference where he had issued Sikhs an ultimatum and threatened them with an economic boycott, we had collected 300 signatures of journalists asking the government to take legal action against him. Thackeray had then dared the CM to act. Soon after, I had to interview S B Chavan, who was then the CM, and I asked him what happened to the action he had promised. He replied that he had been advised it would be counter-productive..In 1992, there were massive communal riots in Mumbai due to the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. During the riots, Javed and his wife, Teesta, decided to quit their jobs to start publishing their own periodical news magazine titled Communalism Combat. The cover page of the news magazine Communalism Combat.In 1993, Javed Anand co-founded another news media outlet, Sabrang Communications, with Teesta Setalvad. Logo of Sabrang Communications.In 1996, Communalism Combat ran into operational troubles as the founders could not generate enough revenue to sustain its functioning. Narrating the incident, Javed Anand, during an interview, said, At one time, between July 1995 and February 1996, we had run out of money and I thought we would have to close down the magazine. Teesta said, What nonsense. Well sell my jewellery if we have to!.In 1998, the couple, through their news agency, Sabrang Communications, published their first popular report. The report, Damning Verdict: Report of the Srikrishna Commission, was based on the 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai and the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case.