Hindustan Times and The Week were presented the International Press Institute — India Award by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar here on Friday.
The former’s series on acid attacks against women and the latter’s Jammu and Kashmir correspondent Tariq Bhat’s report on the widow village of Dardpora were judged as the winning entries.
The India Chapter of the IPI also renewed its appeal to the government to review draconian laws against defamation and online freedom. Speaking at the event, The Hindu Editor-in-Chief N. Ravi said that promises of two previous Law Ministers to move towards decriminalising defamation and reviewing the Information Technology Act have remained on paper.
Mr. Ravi, who is also an IPI Executive Board Member and Chairman of the National Committee said, “Criminal defamation is so easy to trigger in any part of the country and is a source of harassment of journalists and newspapers. International standards of free speech have moved sharply in the direction of decriminalisation of defamation, treating it as a civil wrong between two parties.”
He added that although the Supreme Court created safeguards against misinterpretation of vague sections of the IT Act, the law — which counts insult and annoyance caused by Internet reports as illegal — still remains.
Mr. Javadekar said, “Acid attacks are reflective of gender insensitivity. People need to be sensitive to gender equality for which a social reform movement is needed.” Girls need to be taught how to fight back and men need to learn to treat their female colleagues as equals, he said.
Philip Mathew, IPI Fellow and Managing Editor of Malayala Manorama said, “After the Nirbhaya saga we had a million mental mutinies in this country of one billion people. The peaceful mutineers jolted the rulers that led to the enactment of a new law for the protection of women. Today’s awards are homage to Nirbhaya and womanhood as well as a tribute to the thinking, feeling youth and mental mutineers.”
