Journalists here continued their protests against the police crackdown on NewsClick and staged a sit-in outside the Press Club of India on Monday.
Journalists’ groups also wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on Monday to protect the freedom of speech and livelihood in the wake of the widespread seizure of electronic devices belonging to NewsClick employees and other activists.
The news portal’s offices and the homes of its employees, interns and former employees were among those raided by the police in an unprecedented use of the anti-terror law against the media.
Prabir Purkayastha, the editor-in-chief of the news portal, and its HR head Amit Chakraborty have been under arrest since October 3.
Journalists’s groups had earlier written to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud to ensure the accountability of the police when it seizes devices, and not to prosecute journalism as terrorism.
The letter to the President doesn’t specifically mention NewsClick. It says: “We request your intervention as the highest Constitutional authority to ensure that the freedoms in our Constitution are protected which includes the freedom of speech, the freedom to profess occupation and livelihood.”
It also highlights the seizure of devices as the denial of the means of livelihood for the affected journalists.
The letter is endorsed by the Press Club of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists, Kerala Union of Working Journalists, Digipub (industry body of digital news media), Foreign Correspondents Club, Veteran Journalists Group and the All India Lawyers Union.
Veteran BBC correspondent Satish Jacob told the gathering: “These charges are so fictitious. The claim is that money came from China via New York! There is no better joke.”
Caravan magazine’s executive editor Hartosh Singh Bal explained why NewsClick, and not individual journalists, was targeted. “Journalism dies one institution at a time. Journalism survives only as long as its institutions survive… The government has been accused of planting evidence on devices in the Bhima Koregaon case. We know where this (seizures of devices of NewsClick employees without giving hash values) is likely to lead to.”
A hash value is a unique number that identifies an electronic device. It changes if any change is made to the device’s storage and is used to ascertain whether a device has been tampered with.
Former journalist of The Hindu, Neena Vyas, said: “We are on the verge of seeing the end of democracy especially if the government is not thrown out in 2024 through elections… Unfortunately, the UPA passed draconian laws which are being thoroughly misused.”
