FIR against Rajdeep, Vinod Jose and others: Editors Guild condemns move
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FIR against Rajdeep, Vinod Jose and others: Editors Guild condemns move
Six journalists — Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath — have been booked by the Noida Police for sedition.
news Controversy
The Editors Guild of India on Friday strongly condemned the filing of FIRs against senior editors and journalists for their reporting on the farmers’ tractor rally and the ensuing violence in New Delhi on Republic Day, saying it was an attempt to “intimidate, harass and stifle” the media. In a statement, the Guild demanded that such FIRs be withdrawn immediately and the media be allowed to report without fear and with freedom.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists — Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath — have been booked by the Noida Police for sedition, among other charges, over the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi, officials said on Thursday. The FIR was lodged following a complaint by a resident who alleged that “digital broadcast” and “social media posts” by these people were responsible for the violence during a tractor rally by farmers in the national capital.
In its statement, the Editor’s Guild said that the journalists have been specifically targeted for reporting the accounts pertaining to the death of one of the protestors on their personal social media handles as well as those of the publications they lead and represent. “It must be noted that on the day of the protest and high action, several reports were emerging from eyewitnesses on the ground as well as from police, and therefore it was only natural for journalists to report all the details as they emerged. This is in line with established norms of journalistic practice,” the Guild said.
The Editors Guild said it “strongly condemns the intimidating manner in the way in which the Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh Police” have registered FIRs against senior editors and journalists (including current and former office-bearers of EGI) for reporting on the farmers’ protest rallies and the ensuing violence that took place in the national capital on January 26.
The FIRs allege that the tweets were intentionally malicious and were the reason for the desecration of the Red Fort, the Guild noted, asserting that nothing can be further from truth.
“On a day thick with information, the EGI finds these FIRs, filed in different states, as an attempt to intimidate, harass, browbeat, and stifle the media,” the Guild said.
That the FIRs have been booked under a total of 10 different provisions, including sedition laws, promoting communal disharmony, and insulting religious beliefs, is further disturbing, it said.
“This targeting of journalists grievously violates and tramples on every value that our democratic republic stands for. It is intended to grievously hurt the media and prevent it from working as an independent watchdog of Indian democracy,” the statement said.
“We demand that the FIRs be withdrawn immediately and the media be allowed to report without fear and with freedom,” the Guild said.
The Guild also reiterated its earlier demand that the higher judiciary takes serious cognizance of the fact that several laws such as sedition are often used to impede freedom of speech, and issue guidelines to ensure that “wanton use of such laws does not serve as a deterrent to a free press.”
Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod K Jose and others booked for sedition
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Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod K Jose and others booked for sedition
An FIR was lodged in UP over tweets by Tharoor, Rajdeep and others about the death of a farmer during the farmers’ rally on Jan 26.
news Crime
The Noida police booked Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod K Jose (Caravan), Mrinal Pande and others for sedition on Thursday. An FIR lodged at the Sector-20 police station stated that they were booked for tweeting and spreading fake news pertaining to the death of a farmer during the tractor rally on January 26, 2021.
As per the FIR, the police registered a case against them based on a complaint by Arpit Mishra, 35. The FIR also names Zafar Agha, the Group Editor-in-Chief of National Herald, and Ananth Nath, the Editor of Caravan.
The journalists and politicians have been booked under sections 153A [Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony], 153B [Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration], 295A [Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs], 298 [Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person], 504 [Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace], 506 [Criminal Intimidation], 505(2) [Statements conducing to public mischief], 124-A [Sedition], 34 [Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention] and 120-B [Punishment of criminal conspiracy] of the Indian Penal Code and section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Speaking to TNM, the complainant Arpit Mishra, who is a businessman in Noida said he did not expect a sedition case to be slapped against those who spread rumours. He said, “I have noticed that all these people have spread rumours. At the time when the Republic Day parade was going on they have said that someone has fired a bullet at an innocent man and actually in the post mortem report it was confirmed that it was due to the accident of the tractor. All the people I have complained against have spread this rumour on social media platforms and on live television as well. I personally feel that this rumour may be the reason why people got so angry there and decided to march towards Red Fort. This is why I went ahead and filed a complaint. I have also provided the police a copy of all their tweets. I did not expect initially that they would be booked for sedition. I have seen their tweets, so I showed it to the police, now it is upto the police how they want to proceed with the case.”
Earlier on Thursday, India Today took Rajdeep Sardesai, its Consulting Editor, off air for two weeks and cut one month of his salary for spreading fake news. He had, on January 26, tweeted that one of the farmers who had participated in the protests allegedly died in the police shooting. The police had however said that the farmer died in an accident and later released a video that showed the farmer losing control of his tractor and the vehicle overturning. After the video was released by Delhi Police, Rajdeep tweeted affirming the video. He had also affirmed the same in his live coverage later that day.
Over 21 farm leaders issued notice, LOCs for 47; Sardesai, Vinod K Jose booked in Noida
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New Delhi: Two days after the Republic Day anarchy in the Capital, as the Delhi Police issued notices for appearance to 21 of 37 farmer leaders booked and issued Look Out Circulars against 47 farmer leaders, activists and prominent personalities, the UP Police in Gautam Buddh Nagar have registered a case against senior India Today journalist and anchor Rajdeep Sardesai, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Editor of Caravan Magazine Vinod K Jose and other journalists under sedition and other charges for allegedly misreporting that the farmer who lost his life in the violence was first shot by police.
While Sardesai had corrected himself soon after, the UP Police FIR, registered at the Sector 20 Noida police station alleged that these journalists and Tharoor had allegedly published and put out purportedly wrong information on their respective channels and Twitter handles about the death, allegedly “deliberately and with the intent” to incite violence among farmers, which had allegedly led to them “attempting to harm and kill civil servants trying to do their duty”. The complainant in the FIR has been identified as one Arpit Mishra.
Other charges against the scribes include those related to “deliberately hurting religious sentiments”.
The Noida Police FIR also alleged that these journalists, which include a senior editor from National Herald and a local Urdu publication, and Tharoor had spread “insulting and misleading” information meant to “induce unfortunate response” from the farmers protesting in the Capital on Republic Day.
The Noida Police go on to claim that these accused allegedly published purportedly misleading information, for their own “political and personal” gains.
Meanwhile, the number of FIRs registered by the Delhi Police increased to 33 on Thursday as nine of the major cases, including the one regarding the violence at Red Fort were transferred for investigation to the Crime Branch of the police department. Meanwhile, a sedition case will also be probed by the Special Cell.
The farmer leaders who have been named in the FIRs have been asked to surrender their passports.
Police have named 37 farmer leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, Yogendra Yadav and Medha Patkar, in the FIR that mentioned charges of attempt to murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy. Other farmer leaders who have been listed in the FIR are Darshan Pal, Gurnam Singh, Kulwant
Singh Sandhu, Satnam Singh Pannu, Joginder Singh Ugraha, Surjeet Singh Phool, Jagjeet Singh Dalewal, Balbir Singh Rajewal and Harinder Singh Lakhoval.
Police sources told Millennium Post that soon after the flag was hoisted at Red Fort, actor Deep Sidhu, after making the FB video, left the spot with his associates. Search is also on for two people — one Jugraj Singh who is suspected to be the person who hoisted the religious flag at Red Fort. Lakha Siddhana, the gangster-turned-social activist is also being hunted by the Special Cell. “How they joined the protest, the role of SFJ, banned outfit, being probed,” one police source said.
According to a senior police officer, a case under section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered and the incident of hoisting a religious flag at Red Fort is being investigated. Millennium Post had first reported that sedition charges might be added to the case. In addition to this, the Delhi Police said that the Special Cell FIR will also include charges under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA to investigate the “conspiracy and criminal designs’’ behind the violence.
Sources told this newspaper that after the attack at Red Fort, various rounds of meetings were held between officials to secure the heritage site. One Special Commissioner of Police has been given responsibility for security arrangements. “Talks were related to foot patrolling, scanning CCTV cameras of Red Fort and also various teams formed to secure routes of Red Fort area,” sources said.
With inputs from Abhinay lakshman