The Indian Journalists Union expresses grave concern over concerted attacks against journalists. The past 10-odd days have witnessed assaults on journalists by police authorities in the States of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Additionally, Muslim journalists have been singled out and targeted by a Hindutva mob in the national Capital, Delhi. The signs are sinister for the media in the country, cautions the Union, and calls upon authorities to refrain from silencing independent media, and instead extend protection to it, as the fourth estate is critical to any democratic society.

The incidents are: on April 10, Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan was re-arrested by the police under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA), five days after being released on bail on April 5 by a special NIA court, following the government’s unable to provide sufficient evidence to prove ‘harnessing known militants’, criminal conspiracy, and aiding and participating in militant activities. Sultan had been arrested in August 2018 under UAPA and was in prison for four years.

On April 9, Kanishk Tewari, a journalist and a YouTuber was targeted by the police in Sidhi district, Madhya Pradesh after he filed a news report against a BJP MLA. Tewari said he was abused, beaten up, and asked to strip to his underpants along with the protestors at the police station. Incidentally, the photograph with a group of men, stripped down to their underpants went viral on social media. Tewari had gone to cover a protest against the arrest of theatre artist Neeraj Kunder, accused of making “indecent remarks” against a BJP MLA and his son using a fake Facebook profile.

On April 8, journalist Loknath Dalei, who works for a prominent vernacular newspaper and TV channel Kanak News, was admitted to the hospital after being manhandled at Nilgiri police station. Worse, an iron cuff was put on one of his legs while being treated there. An FIR was lodged against him by a home guard of the same police station, after Dalei’s motorcycle collided with the home guard’s. However, the Nilgiri administration is said to use the incident to settle scores with Dalei, as he has been writing on a number of issues against the sub-divisional authorities. IJU’s affiliate the Odisha Journalists Union was among the various media organizations which have protested against the authorities for humiliating the journalist.

On April 3, five journalists, four of whom were Muslims, were attacked by a Hindu mob while covering a Hindu Mahapanchayat at Delhi’s Burari Ground, organized by “Save India Foundation’. They are freelancers Arbab Ali and Meer Faisal; photojournalist Mohammad Meherbaan and The Quint’s Meghnad Bose. The fifth journalist preferred anonymity fearing harassment. The speakers at the Mahapanchayat indulged in hate speech and called for violence against Muslims. A mob that saw these journalists reporting, attacked them and snatched their cameras and equipment, and forcibly deleted the coverage. They were later put in a police vehicle for protection and taken to Mukherjee Nagar police station, where they remained for 12 hours.

Condemning the incidents, IJU President and former member, Press Council of India and Secretary General and Vice President of International Federation of Journalists Sabina Inderjit said in a statement that the increasing attacks on journalists are adding to the signs of growing intolerance in the ruling dispensations and as a result, Hindutva mobs seem to be getting emboldened. The persistent harassment and intimidation of the media rubbish the claim of the government that there is press freedom in the world’s largest democracy. The Union reiterated its pending demand that the Union government enact a stringent safety law for journalists if it is committed to democracy and the right to free speech and expression, without any further delay.

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