The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Friday urged the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to take cognisance of police excesses against journalists and civil society members and issue directions to all law enforcement agencies to respect democratic values and freedom of press. “At the same time, strict action needs to be taken against those who misuse State power,” it stated.
In a joint statement, the Press Club of India (PCI) and the Indian Women Press Corp (IWPC) also condemned "the reprehensible manner in which journalists, theatre artistes and other citizens were stripped and paraded naked in a police station in Seedhi district in Madhya Pradesh".
The EGI, in a statement, said it was “shocked and outraged by the manner in which the police... arrested, stripped, and humiliated a local journalist as well as some members of the civil society, on April 2, 2022...”
The action was in retaliation to a protest and associated news coverage of arrest of another member of civil society, it noted. “Kanishk Tewari, a local reporter was covering the protest against the arrest of a theatre artist who had allegedly made some indecent remarks against a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and his son... shockingly, the police shot pictures of the journalist and activists and released them on social media in order to shame and humiliate them.”
Although Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan had suspended the policemen and ordered an inquiry into the case, the “increasing tendency of the police and local administration to brazenly attack and intimidate journalists is extremely disturbing and needs to be checked”, it said.
Incident in Odisha
“In another incident in Odisha on April 7, police in the Balasore district chained a journalist’s leg to a hospital bed after an alleged case of assault. The journalist Loknath Delai though has claimed that he was arrested in response to his reporting of corruption by the police and various irregularities in their affairs,” it pointed out.
“The inhumane manner in which journalists, stringers, and district reporters are often treated by the police, in an effort to suppress any independent reporting is a matter of grave concern,” it added.
The PCI and the IWPC said: "The incident [Madhya Pradesh] also speaks volumes about atrocities against mediapersons reaching an unprecedented zenith...the majority of such incidents have been taking place primarily in BJP-governed States."
Demanding that the journalists be released and compensated for the mental agony and physical harassment, they said: "Even during the Emergency period, the then dispensation did not stoop to such levels in its dealings with mediapersons."
They also deplored the "misuse of look out circulars to harass and intimidate the critics of the government like Aakar Patel, who was flying to London recently". They urged the National Human Rights Commission to take cognisance of the issues.
