The Editors Guild of India said that it was deeply shocked by the Tripura police’s action of booking 102 people, including journalists, under the coercive Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for reporting and writing on the recent communal violence in the state.
TFM Desk
A journalist, Shyam Meera Singh, has alleged that he has been booked under UAPA by Tripura police for merely tweeting “Tripura is burning”, regarding the recent violence in the state.
Shyam Meera Singh tweeted, “For writing only these 3 words “Tripura is burning”, BJP Government of Tripura has imposed UAPA on me. I want to reiterate once again, I will never hesitate to stand up for justice. PM of my country might be a coward, We journalists are not”.
“This is an extremely disturbing trend where such a harsh law, wherein the processes of investigation and bail applications are extremely rigorous and overbearing, is being used for merely reporting on and protesting against communal violence,” the Editors Guild of India said in a release on Sunday.
The Editors Guild of India also said that it was deeply shocked by the Tripura police’s action of booking 102 people, including journalists, under the coercive Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for reporting and writing on the recent communal violence in the state.
The state police have sent notices to various social media platforms under UAPA. This move comes a few days after the police had filed UAPA charges against some Delhi based lawyers who had visited Tripura as part of an independent fact finding enquiry commission into the communal violence, the guild said.
“The guild is of the opinion that this is an attempt by the state government to deflect attention away from its own failure to control majoritarian violence, as well as to take action against the perpetrators of this. Governments cannot use stringent laws like UAPA to suppress reporting on such incidents”.
EGI demanded that the state government conduct an objective and fair investigation into the circumstances of the riots instead of penalising journalists and civil society activists.
Further, the guild reiterated its earlier demand to the Supreme Court of India, to take cognizance of the manner in which such laws are unjustifiably used against freedom of speech, and to issue stringent guidelines on charging journalists under them, so that these laws don’t become an easy tool for suppressing press freedom.