ITANAGAR, 16 May: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for the withdrawal of all charges against three Indian journalists who were released on bail on the orders of the Supreme Court or a special court in the past few days, in a stinging repudiation of the actions of the authorities in holding them for months or years under India’s terrorism laws.
The three journalists are NewsClick columnist Gautam Navlakha, NewsClick Editor Prabir Purkayastha, and Aasif Sultan, a former reporter for the now closed Kashmir Narrator monthly. All were victims of trumped-up charges in connection with their journalism and,
although now free on bail pending trial, all still face the possibility of long jail terms, RSF stated.
“These three journalists were jailed on trumped-up charges under terrorism laws with the aim of reducing them to silence. Political authorities use these laws, which allow interminable pretrial detention, to stifle any critical voice and create an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship within the media. We call for all charges against these three journalists to be dropped, and we urge the Indian government to stop misapplying the terrorism laws, which have been repeatedly used to persecute journalists,” an RSF statement read.
