Journalists on Friday held a protest meet against the CBI raids on NDTV promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy and condemned these as attempts to muzzle media and criticism. Describing the case against NDTV as "absolutely false and concocted", Prannoy Roy called the authorities to complete the probe within a fixed timeframe.
"We will fight every one of these false charges openly and transparently....all we ask is that this inquiry be held in a time-bound manner." He said a similar frivolous Income Tax case filed by the Government is pending before the I-T Tribunal but the Government is not interested in concluding it.
"Twenty-one adjournments have been sought by the Government lawyer in the IT case in the last three years while we did not seek even one…Raids on NDTV is a signal to all of us — we can fix you even if you have not done anything. Their message is: crawl, or we'll come for you. I say: Stand up and they'll never do so," Roy said. He added that the fight by media is not against the agencies but the politicians.
The protest meet was attended by several journalists, including some of the top formers editors and noted lawyer and Constitutional expert Fali S. Nariman. Former minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and a journalist, Arun Shourie said through the raids on NDTV , the establishment wants to send message to the entire media. "First, they used incentives like advertisements, then a subterranean atmosphere of fear. Now, they are using a third instrument of overt pressure… They have made NDTV an example of that. This will intensify in the coming months because of the nature of the regime -- its genes are totalitarian. Anybody who has tried to lay a hand on the press in India, has had their hands burnt," Shourie said.
Nariman said that while no one has immunity from being prosecuted for a criminal offence, but the manner and circumstances give reason to believe all of this is unjustified attack on press and media freedom.
"When any government agency files a complaint against a media company, it must first enquire from the owners what they have to say in the matter before conducting raids. This is not a matter of courtesy or favour, but a Constitutional duty. The first thing CBI is expected to do, once a complaint was filed, was to seek NDTV's response. But that wasn't done," he added.
Senior journalist Kuldip Nayar compared the present situation of attack on media to that of Emergency days. "Today, when we are facing more or less the same situation -- not that extent -- all of us have to ensure we don't allow any body to muzzle free speech," he said.