New Delhi: Journalists marched silently around the Press Club of India (PCI) building Tuesday, condemning the detention of and alleged assault on mediapersons covering recent protests against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged manipulation of electoral rolls.
Veteran journalist Sreenivasan Jain said, “One can assume that this overreaction is a result of the regime feeling threatened… The attempt is to particularly target younger journalists, digital media and those who are seen as independent and critical of the regime.”
PCI president Sangeeta Pisharoty said, “How can the state or police decide who is and who is not a journalist? “We need to understand that this affects all of us… We must ensure that every journalist in the field feels that we have their backs,” said diplomatic editor of The Hindu Suhasini Haider. Pisharoty said the meeting was an effort to document what should not be done to journalists in a democracy.
The past few days have been an attack on the right to work of journalists. She added that PIB cards provided security clearance for journalists to enter govt buildings and were not a criterion for practising journalism.