The Editors Guild of India on Sunday, 9 June, condemned the arrest of journalist Prashant Kanojia and the editor and head of a Noida-based television channel, Ishita Singh and Anuj Shukla respectively, by the Uttar Pradesh government.
It said that registering a case of criminal defamation is “brazen misuse of law”.
"The police action is high-handed, arbitrary and amounts to authoritarian misuse of laws. The Guild sees it as an effort to intimidate the press, and stifle freedom of expression," the EGI stated.
Freelance journalist Kanojia was picked up by the Uttar Pradesh Police from his Delhi residence on Saturday, for a social media post against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The FIR had said Kanojia was being charged under Section 500 (for defamation) of the IPC and Section 66 of the IT Act.
However, a press note by the Uttar Pradesh Police released after his arrest mentioned that Section 505 of the IPC (for spreading rumours) was added and Section 66 of the IT Act was being replaced by Section 67 (obscenity).
EGI in their statement said, "Whatever the accuracy of the woman's claims, to register a case of criminal defamation against the journalists for sharing it on the social media and airing it on a television channel is a brazen misuse of law."
Here is a copy of the full statement:
(With inputs from ANI, PTI)
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