New Delhi: The Press Club of India alongwith other journalist unions today condemned the arrest of a Delhi-based journalist with Kerala news organisations, Siddique Kappan, who was arrested along with three other people in Mathura by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday.
The PCI stated that Kappan was arrested when he was on his way to Hathras to report the recent assault and murder of Dalit teenager. It demanded Kappan’s release without delay. The Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking his release, and also filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court today seeking his immediate production before the court and release from the “illegal detention”.
The PCI as well as the KUWJ said Kappan was going to Hathras only to perform his duty as a reporter.
“The arrest of the Kerala journalist is a pointer that the regime in UP is a further illustration of the ham-handed methods used to stop the media from doing its work. Inhibiting the media is evidently directed toward stopping facts from being known in the public sphere,” it stated.
The PCI further apprehended that the Yogi Adityanath government in UP, “in line with its clearly stated conspiracy theory as an explanation for the tragic Hathras incident”, will employ diversionary tactics to take the focus away from the many suspicious, possibly criminal, actions of its police and administration and the virtual silence of the political leadership on the Hathras tragedy. It added: “In these circumstances our worry is that UP Police may not fight shy of using anti-terrorism provisions
with which to charge the Kerala journalist.”
The PCI also demanded an impartial probe into the “incredible” allegations of the UP government and police tapping cell phone conversations of journalists covering the “gruesome” Hathras incident. “This appears to be a gross violation of the privacy laws, direct interference with the professional work of journalists, and a blatant infringement of Article 19 of the Constitution as regards free speech,” it stated.
– globalbihari bureau
