Press Club of India asks A.P. Chief Minister to stop police from targeting journalists

The Press Club of India has urged Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu to restrain the State police from victimising journalists over publishing stories in public interest.

In a statement here, Press Club of India president Gautam Lahiri and secretary general Neeraj said that the media fraternity is concerned by what they called ‘systematic hounding’ of the editor and journalists of Sakshi newspaper by A.P. Police for publishing routine news.

A total of four FIRs have been filed in different districts under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Two FIRs have been registered at two different police stations for reporting a press conference organised by a leader of an Opposition party.

Other newspapers and media outlets also reported about the press conference, but only Sakshi was singled out. After reviewing the contents of the FIRs, it appears that criminal laws have been invoked selectively, and frivolously, against the editorial staff of the newspaper, they said.

The FIRs clearly indicate an intention to trample upon press freedom, which is guaranteed under Article 19(1)(A) to (G) of the Constitution. Moreover, the FIRs conform to a wider and disturbing pan-India trend of filing multiple criminal complaints at different police stations, and at times in different States, against journalists on the flimsiest of grounds, they alleged.