Several media bodies condemn journalists' arrest by UP cops

New Delhi: Several media organisations including Editors Guild condemned on Sunday the arrest of a journalist, and the editor and head of a television channel over alleged objectionable content related to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, describing the police action as an "authoritarian misuse of laws" and an effort to intimidate the press.

An FIR was registered against Noida based journalist Prashant Kanojia at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow on Friday night in which it was alleged that the accused made "objectionable comments against the CM and tried to malign his image."

Kanojia had shared a video on Twitter and Facebook where a woman is seen speaking to reporters of various media organisations outside the CM office claiming that she had sent a marriage proposal to the CM.

The Press Club of India (PCI), Press Association, Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC), and the South Asian Women in the Media (SAWM) together signed a statement expressing their stand on these arrests.

"We, the undersigned Media Organisations, express our collective outrage and shock at the manner in which freelance journalist Prashant Kanojia, as well as Ishita Singh and Anuj Shukla, editor, and head of the Nation Live TV channel have been arrested by UP Police," it read.

The Guild said in a statement that the police action is high-handed, arbitrary and amounts to an authoritarian misuse of laws. The Guild sees it as an effort to intimidate the press and stifle freedom of expression, the statement said.

Kanojia's wife, who was the sole witness to the arrest had said that her husband was whisked away by plainclothes cops of the state police without giving her a chance to speak to him.

The press organisations went on to say, "The action taken by the UP Police against these three journalists is a clear case of administrative overreach and excessive in proportion by way of application of the law. As media-persons, it is our firm belief that journalists ought to conduct themselves responsibly, yet at the same time, we feel that criminal provisions of the defamation law should be taken off the statute books, given their repeated use against journalists and others."

The Network of Women in Media in a statement said, "The above arrests are a serious clampdown on not just their fundamental rights but also the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and expression."

Meanwhile, the head of a private television news channel and its editor were on Sunday remanded in 14-day judicial custody for allegedly broadcasting defamatory content against UP CM Yogi Adityanath, police said.

"They were produced in a local court today (Sunday) which remanded them in 14-day judicial custody," Gautam Buddh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said.

During probe it was also found that the channel did not have any requisite licence to operate, Krishna said.

An additional complaint over the illegal operation of the channel was made by district additional director, information, at Phase 3 PS following which an FIR under IPC sections 420, 467 and related offences was registered.