NEW DELHI: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply alarmed by a series of incidents in India involving the silencing, assault, and legal harassment of journalists and political commentators following the April 22 deadly attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir that left 26 tourists dead.
“CPJ urges Indian authorities to ensure that responses to national security concerns remain firmly grounded in democratic principles and constitutional protections for press freedom,” said Kunal Majumder, CPJ’s India Representative. “We call on the government to uphold transparency in content regulation, adhere to due process, and avoid using national security as a blanket justification to suppress independent journalism.”
On April 29, the Indian government ordered the blocking of the YouTube channel 4PM News Network, which has about 7.3 million subscribers, citing national security and public order. On May 1, 4PM Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Sharma filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging the government’s order. The Supreme Court has asked the government to respond to Sharma’s petition.
Separately, on April 24, Rakesh Sharma, a senior journalist with the Dainik Jagran newspaper, was physically assaulted by supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party while covering a protest in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, following the terrorist attack. Local police have filed a first information report (FIR), a document that opens an investigation, but there are no reports of arrests.
Meanwhile, police in Uttar Pradesh launched criminal investigations last week into political commentators and satirists Neha Singh Rathore and Madri Kakoti, who publishes under the name Dr. Medusa, for allegedly inciting unrest and threatening national unity through their online posts about the tourist attack, with potential prison sentences of three years to life if convicted.
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