NEW DELHI, 14 Apr: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has expressed grave concern over the growing concerted attacks against journalists.
The past 10-odd days have witnessed assaults on journalists by police authorities in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Additionally, Muslim journalists were singled out and targeted by a Hindutva mob in the national capital Delhi.
“The signs are sinister for the media in the country, and the authorities should refrain from silencing independent media, and instead extend protection to it, as the fourth estate is critical to any democratic society,” the union stated in a release.
On 10 April, Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan was rearrested by the police under the draconian Public Safety Act, five days after being released on bail on 5 April by a special NIA court, following the government’s inability to provide sufficient evidence to prove “harnessing known militants,” criminal conspiracy, and aiding and participating in militant activities.
Sultan had been arrested in August 2018 under the UAPA and was in prison for four years.
On 9 April, Kanishk Tewari, a journalist and a YouTuber, was targeted by the police in Sidhi district, Madhya Pradesh, after he filed a news report against a BJP MLA. Tewari said he was abused, beaten up and asked to strip to his underpants along with the protestors at the police station.
Incidentally, the photograph with a group of men stripped down to their underpants went viral on social media. Tewari had gone to cover a protest against the arrest of theatre artist Neeraj Kunder, accused of making “indecent remarks” against a BJP MLA and his son using a fake Facebook profile.
On 8 April, journalist Loknath Dalei, who works for a prominent vernacular newspaper and TV channel Kanak News, was admitted to the hospital after being manhandled in the Nilgiri police station. Worse, an iron cuff was put on one of his legs while being treated there.
An FIR was lodged against him by a home guard of the same police station, after Dalei’s motorcycle collided against the home guard’s. However, the Nilgiri administration is said to have used the incident to settle scores with Dalei, as he has been writing on a number of issues against the sub-divisional authorities.
The IJU’s affiliate, the Odisha Journalists Union, was among the various media organisations which have protested to the authorities of humiliating the journalist.
On 3 April, five journalists, four of whom were Muslims, were attacked by a Hindu mob while covering a Hindu ‘mahapanchayat’ at Delhi’s Burari Ground, organised by the Save India Foundation. They are freelancers Arbab Ali and Meer Faisal; photojournalist Mohammad Meherbaan, and The Quint’s Meghnad Bose. The fifth journalist preferred anonymity, fearing harassment. The speakers at the ‘mahapanchayat’ indulged in hate speech and called for violence against Muslims. A mob which saw these journalists reporting attacked them and snatched their cameras and equipment and forcibly deleted the coverage. They were later put in a police vehicle for protection and taken to Mukherjee Nagar police station, where they remained for 12 hours.
Condemning the incidents, IJU President Geetartha Pathak and Secretary-General Sabina Inderjit said in a statement that “the increasing attacks on journalists are adding to the signs of growing intolerance in the ruling dispensations and as a result Hindutva mobs seem to be getting emboldened.
“The persistent harassment and intimidation of the media rubbishes the claim of the government that there is press freedom in the world’s largest democracy,” they said.
The union reiterated its demand that the union government enact a stringent safety law for journalists if it is committed to democracy and the right to free speech and expression, without any further delay.
