The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Saturday, 30 January, condemned the FIRs registered against journalists and senior editors for their reports on the unrest during the farmer’s tractor rally on Republic Day and demanded their immediate withdrawal.
TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai and five other journalists including Mrinal Pande, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath were booked for sedition by Noida Police on Thursday. The FIR stated that they shared misinformed news and ‘instigated violence’ on 26 January.
“Reporting on the ground is based on eye witness accounts, you can make a mistake. To be told that you can be arrested is meant to harass, intimidate journalists.”Seema Mustafa, Senior Journalist
“Take care of freedom of speech and everything else will automatically fall into place. It is almost a conspiracy of complainants to shut down the same set of people or to make example of the same set of people,” said another journalist, addressing the presser.
The Guild further stated that reporting conflicting accounts from eyewitnesses present at the frenzied event is very natural and in line with the norms of journalistic practice.
Citing the allegation that the tweets were “intentionally malicious” and the reason for vandalism at the Red Fort, the EGI said “nothing could be farther from truth.”
On Friday, a similar FIR was registered in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and the senior journalists for posting “defamatory, false & instigating” tweets which falsely accused the Delhi Police of ‘murdering of a person,’ ANI reported.
(With inputs from ANI)
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