PRESS CLUB OF INDIA AND SEVERAL MEDIA ORGANISATIONS PROTESTED AT PCI, LETTER SENT TO PRESIDENT OF INDIA
The Press Club of India and several other media organisations under the signature of the President of PCI Gautam Lahri sent a letter to President of India Draupadi Murmu requesting for her intervention as the highest constitutional authority to ensure that the freedoms in our Constitution are duly protected which includes a freedom of speech, the freedom to profess occupation and livelihood.
Citing about the imposition of draconian laws against journalists on exponential scale the letter states that on behalf of thousands of journalists we wish to draw your kind attention to the unprecedented situation confronted by the independent media of India today . The letter adds : As journalists we take a lot of collective pride in the strides that our country has made in the last 75 years.
There was a dark period as well when the Fourth Estate was fettered, a phase which our democracy would not like to be repeated. Today our community faces a similar but more insidious challenge says the letter addressed to President Mrs Draupadi Murmu.
Expressing serious concerns over the already existing precarious conditions faced by journalists in the line of their duties and in profession the letter says that many of these laws do not even acknowledge the special role that our independent press plays – that of being the voice of so many diverse citizens of this country.
Mentioning about the confiscation of the the laptops, mobiles of journalists etc the letter says that under some of these draconian laws the authorities have used their unfettered rights to seize equipments such as laptops, phones and hard discs which are the source of livelihood for the journalist community.
These laws do not provide for bail where incarceration is the norm and not the exception says the letter sent to President.
The media organisations mentioned in the letter, apart from Press Club of India are – Indian Women Press Corps , Press Association, Delhi Union of Journalists, Kerala Union of Working Journalists, Digipub, Foreign Correspondent Club, Veteran Journalists Group, All India, Lawyers Union etc.
In the afternoon a meeting was held in the Press Club of India precincts addressed by veteran journalists Prem Shankar Jha, Satish Jacob, formerly of BBC, renowned columnist and a victim of recent action by special cell of Delhi Police Prananjay Guha Thakur, Venu from The Wire and Gautam Lahiri, President of Press Club of India, Neena Vyas, Pamela Philipose, ( IWPC) Sujata Madhok ( DUJ) and several others.
After the meeting a day long Dharna was organised outside press Club of India against muzzling of press freedom, free expression and undue harrasment of senior journalists including the journalists of News Click etc.
Several journalists were raising slogans against the arbitrary police action against innocent senior journalists for pursuing their professional duties with the sole aim to harras and victimise them with absolute ulterior and vindictive motives.
The slogans written on the play cards were : Seizing Journalists Laptops won’t make them Lapdogs, The questioning of power by the Press is not a disease, it is symptom of healthy democracy, Freedom of Expression is a fundamental right of all citizens! It does not exist without a free press etc.
Meanwhile senior journalist Ravish Kumar wrote on X: Under the aegis of the Press Club of India, eight organizations associated with the press and an organization of lawyers had organized a day-long demonstration. A letter has been written to the President of India on behalf of everyone that laws containing terror sections are being used against journalists. The role of a free press was said to be essential for any democracy. The confiscation of electronic items of journalists was condemned.
