Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has constituted a high-level coordination committee under the chairmanship of General Administration Department (GAD) Secretary, for establishing necessary coordination between State Government and journalists to look into cases of harassment and criminal cases lodged against media persons out of malice by police in the State.
To uphold the tradition of independent and unbiased journalism in the State, the Chief Minister has taken a major initiative by issuing necessary guidelines to State Home Department, according to an official press release issued here on Thursday.
As per the directives of the Chief Minister, the Home Department on Thursday issued a circular from the Mantralaya in which officials concerned have been issued guidelines to conduct high-level retrospect of criminal cases and harassment cases concerning journalists in the State.
As per the circular, a high-level coordination committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD) , for establishing necessary coordination between Government and journalists in such cases.
It is stated in the circular that the criminal cases frequently lodged against journalists and their arrests, raises question on the freedom of press.
The Government has received a number of complaints that police personnel harass journalists and often criminal cases are lodged against them out of malice.
The Circular states that earlier, Government of undivided Madhya Pradesh’s Home Department had put an end to such activities by issuing circular from Bhopal on December 24, 1986, which was later reinforced by DGP of Chhattisgarh on February 3, 2006.
The system and procedure suggested by this circular would remain unchanged and would be implemented as it is in Chhattisgarh, which is detailed in the box.