By The Wire Staff
New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India (EGI), Digipub and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have criticised the recent police action on Srinagar-based journalists and urged authorities to immediately stop such practices.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the EGI “noted with grave concern the continued repression of legitimate journalistic activity by the authorities in Kashmir.”
Several journalists including the Indian Express’s Basharat Masood, Hindustan Times’ Ashiq Hussain and most recently, The Hindu’s Peerzada Ashiq, were orally summoned by the J&K police this month, while the phone of The Wire’s Jehangir Ali was seized in December.
“According to reports, the journalists were also pressured to sign bonds or affidavits to the effect that they will not undertake any activity to “disturb the peace”, whatever that may mean or imply. While the police authorities are yet to clarify the reasons for such an action, the Guild reiterates that there can be no space for such arbitrary actions in a democracy, of which the media is a key pillar,” the EGI said.
The guild said that attempts to secure such affidavits was “tantamount to coercion and intimidation of the media in pursuit of its legitimate duties.”
Noting the atmosphere of threats and coercion, the EGI said that innumerable such instances have been reported in the past and urged the authorities to “desist from such actions, which restrict free speech and prevent the media from carrying out its core functions.”
‘Part of broader pattern since 2019’
Digipub News India Foundation too strongly condemned “the persecution of journalists” in J&K, noting that those summoned were not given specific reasons for the police action.
“Criminalising such public-interest journalism and coercing reporters into signing bonds without due process constitutes a grave assault on press freedom,” the statement said, adding that such intimidation was part of a broader pattern since the reading down of Article 370 in 2019.
“Rights groups and media watchdogs report that more than 200 journalists have faced summons, questioning, raids, threats or legal harassment since [2019]. This repression has now expanded from local Kashmiri journalists to reporters from major national media and freelancers, even as several large media houses remain silent-leaving the most vulnerable journalists to bear the brunt,” Digipub said.
Noting that such unwarranted action on the media violates the constitutional guarantee of free expression, the foundation warned that “this is not merely a J&K issue but a warning sign for press freedom across India.”
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
