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Five Scroll stories by Rokibuz Zaman, Johanna Deeksha, Mahima Jain and Tora Agarwala won the 2024 Laadli Media Awards on Wednesday.

Zaman won the award in the ‘Web – News Report’ category for English-language reporting. Deeksha won the award in the ‘Web – Investigative Story’ category in English.

Jain won the award in the ‘Web – Feature’ category for English-language reporting while Agarwala won the award in the ‘Web – Article’ category in English.

The Laadli Media Award was instituted in 2007 by Population First, a nonprofit supported by the United Nations Population Fund. The awards honour, recognise and celebrate the efforts of those in news media and advertising who highlight gender sensitivity.

Zaman won the award for his reporting on how Assam Police’s crackdown on child marriage in February 2023 led to broken families.

Several persons told Zaman that the police action was politically motivated, targeting Muslims of Bengali origin. Activists and observers also said that the retrospective punitive action against child marriage will do more harm than good.

In Assam, a police crackdown on child marriage leaves a trail of crying women and broken families

Many claim that the action is politically motivated, targetting Muslims of Bengali origin.

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Deeksha won the award for her piece involving young Muslim women in Karnataka recounting how a March 2022 High Court order banning hijabs, or headscarves, legitimised Hindutva prejudice and locked them out of education.

The story was written as part of Scroll’s Common Ground in-depth reporting project.

One year of Karnataka’s war on Muslim women’s right to learn

Young Muslim women in Karnataka recount how a court order legitimised Hindutva prejudice and locked them out of an education.

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Agarwala, an independent journalist, was awarded for her July 2023 report on four Kuki women recounting the brutal assaults they survived amid Manipur’s ethnic conflict that started in May that year.

Agarwala won another award for her story on the contentious role of the Meira Paibis movement in the conflict between the Meiteis and the Kukis. The Meitei women’s group, for long celebrated as the torchbearers of Manipur, has been accused of egging on violence against women from the Kuki-Zo community.

‘Everyone should know what happened to us’: Four Kuki women recount brutal assaults they survived

In three separate incidents in May, the four women were attacked by gangs who said they were taking revenge for violence against their community.

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Feminist icons or violent vigilantes? The contentious role of Meira Paibis in Manipur’s conflict

Celebrated for long as the torchbearers of Manipur, Meitei women groups now stand accused of blocking the army and egging on violence against Kuki-Zo women.

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Jain won the award for her Common Ground story on how hospitals are helping combat violence against women. Her article illustrated how in some states, programmes are underway to train medical professionals to spot subtle signs and symptoms of violence against women, and offer broader, long-term support.

How hospitals are helping combat violence against women

In some states, programmes train medical professionals to spot subtle signs and symptoms of violence against women, and offer broader, long-term support.

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Last year, Deeksha had won the Laadli Media Award for her story on why sex workers in India dread going to hospital.

Scroll’s Nolina Minj had also won the award for reporting on the horrors of queer conversion therapy in India.