Shabana Azmi Defends Javed Akhtar After Netizens Question If He Actually Won The Richard Dawkins Award

High drama has erupted over lyricist Javed Akhtar reportedly winning the Richard Dawkins award after various Twitter users shared a WhatsApp forward which claimed that he might only have been nominated for the same.

The message alleges that a group of activists in London along with Indian leftists had proposed that Akhtar receive the award in 2020 and the proposal along with the signatures was sent to Dawkins while copying Akhtar.

After the tweet went viral actor Shabana Azmi who is Akhtar's wife took to twitter to assert that the aforementioned allegations are "patently untrue".

She claimed that they received an email both from Richard Dawkins and Centre of Inquiry USA's head Robyn Blumner offering the award.

After Azmi's response, a few social media users dug up old tweets of Dawkins in which he claims that neither him nor the Richard Dawkins Foundation (RDF) is involved with the award.