The arrest of a journalist, Prashant Kanojia, and others over a Facebook post against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has invited widespread condemnation. The Editors Guild described the police action as an “authoritarian misuse of laws” and an effort to intimidate the press, while the Congress urged the Allahabad High Court to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.
“The Editors Guild of India condemns the arrest of Noida-based journalist Prashant Kanojia and the editor and the head of a Noida-based television channel, Nation Live — Ishita Singh and Anuj Shukla — by the Uttar Pradesh Government,” the Guild said in a statement.
“Mr Kanojia has been accused of uploading a post on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media and the Nation Live head and editor have been charged with having aired a video on the UP chief minister. The police action is high-handed, arbitrary and amounts to an authoritarian misuse of laws,” it added. The Guild sees it as an effort to intimidate the press and stifle freedom of expression, the statement said.
The Uttar Pradesh Police had on Saturday booked journalist Prashant Kanojia for allegedly sharing an objectionable post against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media. The administration also charged Anuj and Ishita in the same case and arrested.
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 Adityanath. Kanojia is an alumnus of prestigious journalism institute IIMC and Mumbai University and is associated with some media organisations.
“The detention of Prashant Kanojia for merely posting a video which fell foul of actors of State government is illegal, arbitrary and a grave miscarriage of justice. Would request the Allahabad High Court to take suo Motu cognizance of the matter,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said.
The FIR is based on the journalist sharing on Twitter the video of a woman claiming a “relationship” with the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the Guild said, adding that the television channel had broadcast a video on the same issue.
“Whatever the accuracy of the woman's claims, to register a case of criminal defamation against the journalists for sharing it on the social media and airing it on a television channel is a brazen misuse of law,” the Guild said in its statement.
Multiple media organisations - the Indian Women's Press Corps, Press Club of India, South Asian Women in the Media and Press Association - also issued a joint statement condemning the three arrests.
“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 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. We urge and demand that the UP government should reconsider and withdraw the criminal defamation charges against all three journalists.”