Allegations of sexual abuse have surfaced against Omar Rashid, a contributor at The Wire. An anonymous account, ‘Calling out my abuser’, posted a harrowing account by a woman who claimed that she had been sexually abused by Omar Rashid. The woman, a Hindu, chose not to reveal her name. She further confirmed that she did not raise her voice against her accused due to fears of fanning Islamophobia.
The woman claimed that Rashid had forced her into sex on multiple occasions. He subjected her to physical abuse and forced her to eat beef. In addition to it, he did not use condoms during sex, forcing her to endure the risk of unwanted pregnancies and STDs.
How Omar Rashid abused me #MeToo
— Calling out my abuser (@anon_feminist1) May 20, 2025
(#wetoo)@thewire_in @svaradarajan @seemay @sangbarooahpish @khanumarfa pic.twitter.com/NWbglFnxid
The victim also admitted that she maintained silence over the matter because she feared it would be used by the ‘Hindutva Brigade’ to fan Islamophobia. She also mentions that her abuser deliberately took advantage of this.
She said, “Omar always kept reminding me of my identity as a “non-muslim” in the hindu rashtra, and how this relation needed to be kept secret for the greater good of the muslim men, and the idea of this being seen as love jihad. This was what made me keep quiet for the longest time, since I knew the hindutva brigade’s possible reaction to it.”
“I want to make this clear that this is not to be seen as a communal or ethnic issue- what Omar kept repeating throughout by proclaiming his kashmiri muslim identity, but rather an account of one person who chose to weaponise all of this to get sadistic pleasure out of this by tormenting young progressive women, while guilt-tripping them into silence because they would play into the hindutva hands by calling him out,” she added.
The Wire has an issued a statement over the matter. It said that they will conduct an internal inquiry into the matter and decided on the basis of it how to move forward with the allegations.
Omar Rashid accuser slams Hindutva
The alleged victim issued a statement anonymously in response to the comments that her original submission received on X. While it cannot be verified whether the response was actually submitted by her, it is widely understood that the two statements were from the same person.
She said in her statement, “It’s heartbreaking to witness my words being twisted to stoke Islamophobia and fuel hatred against The Wire, a platform that has stood for ethical, credible journalism in this country. Let me be clear: this is not about religion. It’s not about Kashmiri. Not about being Muslim. Not even about being a man. It is about patriarchy, an epidemic of predatory entitlement that exists all around us.”
The accuser further declared, “I find myself thinking: Hindu nahin, Hinduism khatre mei hai, hinduon se.” It translates to, “The Hindu is not under threat. It’s Hinduism that is under threat, from Hindus.” Regarding the fact that she was force-fed beef, she said, “What happened wasn’t about food or faith, it was about control.”
“The man who hurt me could have belonged to any religion. His faith didn’t define his crime, his predatory nature did. He was a predator who could be from any religion,” she added.
Islamophobia fears silenced multiple sex abuse victims
X users have criticised the victim for her silence on the matter due to fears of fanning Islamophobia. They have accused her of enabling the sexual abuse of women by consciously choosing to remain silent over the matter due to political reasons.
The disturbing trend has gained momentum as another Liberal Hindu Feminist influencer has revealed that she too did not speak out against her abuser due to the same fears regarding Islamophobia. Ruchika Sharma, a YouTuber who runs a channel called ‘Eyeshadow & Etihaas’, revealed a similar experience in response to the victim.
Ruchika Sharma said on the social media platform, “Equally sad but predictable to see this woman’s harrowing experience be used to fan Islamophobia. This is also the reason why I decided a few moons ago to not call out my aggressor because I know the dingbat Sanghis will just use it to further their own horrible communal agenda.”
X users have made similar criticism of her as they have of the victim. It was noted by several users that, both, Ruchika Sharma and the victim appear more angered by supporters of Hindutva than the men who abused them sexually.
In addition to the women mentioned, there is another woman who revealed a few years ago that she “let go” of her molester because he was Muslim because she “bought into the idea that the state is already on to his people and it was ethically wrong of me somehow to file a complaint.”
