However, our government does not seem to be concerned. The fundamental right to freedom of expression is under attack. FIRs are being registered under Modi’s rule at the centre and in the BJP ruled states against those journalists who report embarrassing truth. The latest example is the sedition cases filed against several journalists in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Media offices are also threatened with official raids. The year 2020 had become the most dangerous year for journalists, accounting for almost 20 per cent of the FIRs registered in the decade. Majority of the cases were registered in BJP ruled states. Of 154 journalists arrested or faced government hostility for their professional work, over 40 per cent were suffered in 2020 alone. A total of 67 journalists were arrested, detained, and questioned in India in 2020 for their work.

The most worrying aspect of the trend is that the journalists standing by the ethics of journalism are most under threat. The government officials on behalf of their political leaderships resorted to several tools against journalists which not only included arrests but also summons, detentions, questioning, show-cause notices, and raids on one or the other pretexts.

The one and half months of 2021 has witnessed a spurt in cases against journalists indicating that the Modi government is hell bent on taming the dissenting journalists. On the one hand no action has been initiated against the persons who were behind the video posted on youtube on February 11, threatening some journalists to be ‘hanged’, actions were initiated on the other against several journalists on the charges of sedition, on the ground that their work ‘excite disaffection against the government’ among the people.

The section 124 A of the India Penal Code has become the common tool in the hands of officials that relates to sedition, apart from other sections of the IPC and other criminal laws such as Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Criminal defamation suits by politicians and corporate houses are also pending in large numbers in various courts across the country.

Assaults on journalists have also been increasing at worrying rates. About 200 attacks had been recorded between 2014 to 2019 while conviction rate had been dismal. It smacks some sort of nexus against journalists. The study titled ‘Behind Bars: Arrest and Detention of Journalists in India 2010-20’ by Free Speech Collective has asserted that the most cases against journalists are being registered in BJP ruled states followed by the states ruled by its alliance NDA. The study has documented 73 cases from BJP ruled states out of 154 in the country. BJP ruled Uttar Pradesh was at the top with 29 cases. Another 30 cases were reported from NDA ruled states. These figures do not include the many more journalists who on daily basis suffer from being trolled, harassed, and intimidated by the government supporting groups. Women journalists have become particularly vulnerable.

The state is blatantly targeting news outlets and journalists either directly through its official agencies or indirectly through the forces supporting the government. One of the latest example is ED raids on ‘Newsclick’ and homes of some of the journalists working with the organization and senior management officials, virtually placing its editor-in-chief and a leading writer in home detention for almost five days. This platform has been reporting on issues sensitive to the government such as farmers protest.

Another instance is arrest of a journalist who has been reporting the farmers protest from the day one. He was dragged by the Delhi Police across the police barricades at Singhu border in Delhi. Ironically, an FIR has been registered against him for allegedly ‘assaulting police official’ on the eve of his arrest. Though he was able to get bail from court, the whole incident has become an example of police brutality against a journalist with a view to suppress the embarrassing truth.

The cases registered against well connected and prominent journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, Mrinal Padey, Zafar Agh, Paresh Nath, Anant Nath and Vinod K Jose alleges them of promoting enmity between different groups, insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal conspiracy. The FIRs pertains to tweets and reports that mentioned that a farmer was shot on January 26 during the Farmers’ Republic Day Parade. UP Police have also filed a case against Siddharth Varadrajan for a report relating to the allegations of the family of the dead farmer.

It is also shocking that three journalists were also booked by the UP police when they reported in visuals how children in a government school were shivering in cold while made to practice yoga in the open in severe cold wave conditions. This incident happened in event in which a UP minister participated.

Numerous examples of state repression can be cited. They are not only carried out through show cause notices, FIRs, raids, arrests and through impunity for crime against journalists, but also through other means, such as blocking their financial resources without which they cannot survive. Many journalists had either to quit their jobs or were fired by their management. Media organizations are complaining of even armtwisting through various means including blocking government advertisements. They are even pressurized directly and indirectly for not publishing too critical materials against the government. Media serving as a machinery for ‘government propaganda’ is only as good as ‘misinformation and disinformation’ campaigns. Therefore, efforts of taming of the media reporting embarrassing truth and opinion must be resisted. (IPA Service)