Editors Guild shocked by Tripura Police’s move

102 people, including journalists, under UAPA

November 07, 2021 06:32 pm | Updated 06:32 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Sunday expressed shock over the Tripura Police’s action of booking 102 people , including journalists, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

“The Editors Guild of India is 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 has sent notices to various social media platforms under UAPA,” the EGI said in a statement.

“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,” it said.

Also Read: Opposition parties in Tripura condemn police action against SC lawyers and others

The EGI said one of the journalists, Shyam Meera Singh, alleged that he was booked under UAPA for merely tweeting “Tripura is burning”. “This is an extremely disturbing trend where such a harsh law, where in the processes of investigation and bail applications are extremely rigorous and overbearing, is being used for merely reporting on and protesting against communal violence,” said the EGI.

It 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.”

The EGI demanded an objective and fair investigation by the State government into “the circumstances of the riots instead of penalising journalists and civil society activists”.

It reiterated its earlier demand to the Supreme Court to take cognisance of the manner in which laws like UAPA were “unjustifiably” used, and to issue stringent guidelines on charging journalists under them.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.