PROTEST AGAINST ATTACKS ON SCRIBES COVERING CAA AGITATION

26TH DECEMBER, 5.30 PM AT THE PRESS CLUB
 

The undersigned organisations representing journalists in Mumbai are concerned and distressed at the widescale attacks on media persons covering the current protests across the country against the Citizens Amendment and Act (CAB) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). We condemn both law enforcement agencies as well as private players who have been trying to curb the right of media persons and networks to report freely.

Attacks on the media have been widespread and the ferocity is worrisome. Omar Rashid, a journalist of The Hindu in Lucknow, was detained for a couple of hours by the police in Lucknow without reason and was threated and taunted with communal abuse. Seven journalists in Mangalore covering the CAA protests were detained without reason and their video equipment snatched. Arun Shankar and VaisakhJayapalan of Matrubhumi News were seriously injured when covering the protests near Delhi Gate, in the National Capital.

Other reports say ANI Reporter Ujjwal Roy and Cameraperson Sarabjeet Singh were assaulted while covering protests near Jamia Milia Islamia, while two journalists, Dinesh R and Wasim Sayeed of Asianet News, were also attacked in the national capital during the protests by Jamia Milia Islamia students.Wasim was seriously injured during stone-pelting and had to be admitted to a hospital.

Camera crews too have faced the rage of both protestors and the police. Jaideep, video journalist of Zee News, was manhandled, while those covering protests in Sambhaland Lucknow had their OB vans attacked and torched.

We appeal to policemen and government authorities as well as protestors of all hues to let media do their duty without being subjected to threats and violence.

In another dangerous trend, the I&B Ministry, in the guise of clamping down on ‘inflammatory’ reporting, has issued atleast two ‘advisories’ – one on 11 December, and the other on 21 December – to TV channels threatening action. The advisories warn against ‘anti-national attitudes’ and ‘anything affecting the integrity of the nation’ – catch-all phrases that can be easily used to silence news networks that are inconvenient to the government standpoint.

Finally, the trend of suspending internet services as a method to cripple communication between protestors is a regressive and anti-democratic measure that is inconveniencing millions of citizens who are non-participants in the ongoing protests. The Internet is a vital communication platform that facilitates business, transportation and education. Courts have recognized access to the Internet as a basic right, and it is incorrect for the government to cripple communication systems in such an arbitrary manner as we have been seeing in the past few days.

To highlight the above issues and to call attention of the government, the journalists organizations of Mumbai Press Club, Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, Television Journalists Association, Bombay News Photographers Association, Mantralaya Ani VidhimandalVartahar Sangh and Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists (BUJ) held a candle light vigil and protest outside the Mumbai Press Club at 5.30 PM on Thursday, 26th December, 2019.