A number of media organisations have written to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asking for the court’s intervention to stop what they claim is the “repressive” use of investigative agencies “against the media” and demanding guidelines on police seizures of journalists’ electronic equipment.
Following a raid on the homes of journalists, editors, and writers connected to the news portal “Newsclick” by the Delhi police’s Special Cell, 16 press associations wrote the letter.
“Our fear is that State actions against the media have been taken beyond measure, and should they be allowed to continue in the direction they are headed, it may be too late for corrective or remedial steps. It is, therefore, our collective view that the higher judiciary must now intervene to put an end to the increasingly repressive use of investigating agencies against the media,” the letter stated.
“However, ad hoc, sweeping seizures and interrogations surely cannot be considered acceptable in any democratic country, let alone one that has begun advertising itself as the ‘mother of democracy,” it added.
The letter further mentioned, “The invocation of UAPA is especially chilling. Journalism cannot be prosecuted as ‘terrorism’. Enough instances in history abound to tell us where that eventually goes,” it added.
It stated, “The fact is that today, a large section of journalists in India finds itself working under the threat of reprisal. And it is imperative that the judiciary confronts power with a fundamental truth–that there is a Constitution to which we are all answerable.”
“The tragic death of Father Stan Swamy in custody is a reminder of how indifferent the authorities seem to have become towards human life under the guise of combating ‘terrorism’,” it stated.
Media organisations including the Press Club of India, Chandigarh Press Club, Delhi Union of Journalists, Kerala Union of Working Journalists, Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists, Free Speech Collective Mumbai, Mumbai Press Club, Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists, Press Association of India, National Alliance of Journalists, and Network of Women in Media have sent the letter.
With Agency Inputs
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