Global Press Bodies Writes To PM Modi to drop all charges against journalists, says its gross violation of the country’s international commitments
New Delhi: Two international press associations -- Austria-headquartered International Press Institute (IPI) and Belgium-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi have urged him to take “immediate steps to ensure that journalists can work without harassment and fear of reprisal”.
In their letter, written on Tuesday, the also asked Modi to “direct the state governments to drop all charges against journalists, including those under the draconian sedition laws, that have been imposed on them for their work”.
As many as 55 journalists were targeted for covering the pandemic in India between 25 March, when lockdown was first imposed, and 31 May, a report by Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) has shown,” they stated
In the letter, they have stated that the number of cases filed against journalists have increased enormously after the spread of the pandemic. The “health crisis [pandemic] is being used as an excuse to silence those who have exposed shortcoming in the government’s response to i.A free media is essential to a successful public health response, the letter stated.
They wrote, “The use of sedition laws to harass independent, critical journalists is not only a gross violation of the country’s international commitments, it is also an attempt by the government to silence any criticism. Journalistic work cannot be equated to sedition or undermining security.”
Meanwhile, in a statement issued Wednesday, the Editors Guild of India criticised Delhi Police for a “brazen attack on a journalist [Ahan Penkar] of The Caravan magazine while he was carrying out his duty as a member of the press."
List of Journalists who were booked during pandemic:
UTTAR PRADESH
1. Siddharth Varadarajan (FIR)
2. Prashant Kanojia (FIR)
3 -6. Four journalists, Gopiganj police station, Bhadohi district (FIR)
7. Vijay Vineet (Notice)
8.Subhash Rai (Notice)
9. Ravindra Saxena (FIR)
10. Manish Pandey (Notice)
11. Shri Aashish Avasthi, (FIR)
JAMMU & KASHMIR
12. Mushtaq Ahmad Ganai (arrest)
13. Masrat Zahra (FIR)
14. Gowhar Geelani (FIR)
15. Peerzada Ashiq (Notice)
16. Mushtaq Ahmad Ganai (torture)
17. Gowhar Ali Wani (FIR)
HIMACHAL PRADESH
18. Om Sharma (FIR)
19. Ashwani Saini (FIR)
20. Vishal Anand (FIR)
21. Jagat Bains (FIR)
22. Somdev Sharma (FIR)
TAMIL NADU
23. Damodharan (arrest)
24 to 26. Andrew Sam Raja Pandian, Jerald Aruldas and M Balaji (arrest)
WEST BENGAL
27 to 30. Bhupendra Pratap Singh, Abhishek Singh, Hemant Chowrasia and
Ayush Kumar Singh (arrest)
ODISHA
31. Subrat Kumar Swain (Torture)
32 & 33. Attack on two journalists of Kanak News (assault)
34. Mahadev Nayak (illegal confinement)
MAHARASHTRA
35. Rahul Kulkarni, (arrest)
36. Rahul Zori (FIR)
37. Arnab Goswami (FIR), Maharashtra
38. Uttkarsh Chaturvedi (torture)
PUNJAB
39. Major Singh Punjabi (torture)
40. Jai Singh Chibber (FIR)
DELHI
41. Vinod Dua (FIR)
42. Mahender Singh Manral (Notice)
MADHYA PRADESH
43. Tansen Tiwari (FIR)
44. KK Saxena (FIR)
KERALA
45. Abhilash Padachery (arrest)
46. Sudhir Chaudhary (FIR)
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS
47. Zubair Ahmed (arrest)
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
48. Tonga Mrina (threat)
ASSAM
49. Manash Jyoti Baruah (Summon)
BIHAR
50. Pawan Chaudhary (arrest)
CHHATTISGARH
51. Neeraj Shivhare (Notice)