New Delhi: Prominent journalist bodies have sought the intervention of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud in the matter of recent police raids on the houses of journalists and seizure of their devices.
The letter addressed to the CJI has been signed by organizations including the Digipub News India Foundation, Indian Women’s Press Corps, and the Press Club of India, among others.
The journalist bodies said a large section of journalists in India finds itself “working under the threat of reprisal”.
“And it is imperative that the Judiciary confronts power with a fundamental truth – that there is a Constitution to which we are all answerable,” it said.
They demanded framing of norms “to discourage the seizure of journalists’ phones and laptops on a whim, as has been the case”, evolving guidelines for the interrogation of journalists and for seizures from them, to ensure that these are not undertaken as fishing expeditions with no bearing to actual offences and finding ways to ensure the accountability of state agencies.
The press bodies cited the instance of raids conducted October 3 on the homes of 46 staffers of news portal NewsClick including journalists, editors, writers, and professionals.
“Subjecting journalists to a concentrated criminal process because the government disapproves of their coverage of national and international affairs is an attempt to chill the press by threat of reprisal-the very ingredient you identified as a threat to freedom,” the letter read.
“We do not say that journalists are above the law. We are not and do not wish to be. However, intimidation of the media affects the democratic fabric of society,” it said.
“As journalists and news professionals, we are always ready and willing to cooperate with any bona fide investigation. However, ad hoc, sweeping seizures and interrogations surely cannot be considered acceptable in any democratic country, let alone one that has begun advertising itself as the ‘mother of democracy,” the letter addressed to the CJI said.
PTI