CPJ Asks India To Stop Arresting, Harassing Journalists Covering Farmers' Protests

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based watchdog body, has called on India to immediately release journalist Mandeep Punia and refrain from detaining and investigating members of the press covering the ongoing farmers' protests in and around New Delhi

NEW YORK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Feb, 2021 ) :The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based watchdog body, has called on India to immediately release journalist Mandeep Punia and refrain from detaining and investigating members of the press covering the ongoing farmers' protests in and around New Delhi.

"We are extremely alarmed by the authorities' treatment of journalists and news organizations reporting on the farmers' protests in India, which is an issue of national importance," Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ's senior Asia researcher, said in a statement.

"Indian authorities must immediately release journalist Mandeep Punia and drop all investigations into journalists and news outlets who have been diligently covering the protests," she added.

According to media reports, Delhi police on Saturday detained Mandeep Punia, a contributor to The Caravan magazine and Junputh news website, and Dharmendra Singh, a reporter with the YouTube news channel "Online News India," while they covered protests held by farmers against new laws that the protestors say would deprive them of livelihood.

Indian authorities released Singh without charge on Sunday, but Punia remains in custody, CPJ said.

Since January 28, police have also opened at least eight investigations into journalists and media outlets that have covered the protests, it said.

Separately, police in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Delhi have opened investigations into at least eight journalists over their coverage of allegations that Delhi police killed a protesting farmer January 26, which police deny, according to news reports.

Six of those journalists were named in identical complaints accusing them of several violations of the Indian Penal Code, including sedition and promoting enmity between groups, according to those reports.

Those journalists include Rajdeep Sardesai of the India Today news channel, Mrinal Pande of English-language daily National Herald, Zafar Agha of Urdu-language newspaper Qaumi Qwaz, and Paresh Nath, Anant Nath, and Vinod K. Jose of The Caravan, according to multiple news reports.

The complaints cite tweets by Sardesai, Pande, Agha, and The Caravan about the killing.

If charged and convicted of sedition, the six could face up to life imprisonment under Indian law.

In response to a different complaint relating to the killing, on January 30 Uttar Pradesh police opened an investigation into New Delhi-based independent news website The Wire, its editor Siddharth Varadarajan, and reporter Ismat Ara, according a copy of the complaint, which CPJ reviewed.

The complaint cites two tweets and a news article, which reported that the family of the slain protester refused to accept the Delhi police's claim that he was not shot to death.

The complaint, filed by a resident of Uttar Pradesh state, alleges that the tweets and article "led to anger among the common people in Rampur [in Uttar Pradesh state] and has given rise to tension," and accused Varadarajan of creating or promoting enmity between classes, among other crimes. Varadarajan told CPJ today that Ara has also been added to the complaint.

If charged and convicted of promoting such enmity, the journalists could face up to three years imprisonment under Indian law.

Vardarajan told CPJ via messaging app that he believed the investigations into journalists who covered the protester's death risk criminalizing the act of questioning a postmortem or airing accusations against the police.

Pande told CPJ that she is consulting her lawyer. CPJ texted Agha, Sardesai, Naths, and Jose for comment but did not receive any responses.

CPJ said it emailed police spokespeople in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Delhi, but did not receive any responses.

Separately, today police arrested Kapil Viayan, a law student, for allegedly sending death and rape threats via Twitter to Rohini Singh, a freelance journalist and a contributor to The Wire, according to The Wire and the Hindustan Times.

The Indian government has also been regularly suspending internet access in parts of Haryana and three protest sites in Delhi since January 26, according to local and international news reports.