Several members of parliament come in support of two senior journalists Sidhartha Vardharajan and Karan Thaper
Fifteen members of parliament of India National Developmental Inclusive Alliance expressed their solidarity with the two senior journalists against whom FIRs have been registered by the Assam police and asked to appear before the investigating officer, failing which shall be incarcerated.
In a press statement issued today the fifteen members of parliament said : We are extremely concerned by the Assam police’s harassment of Siddhartha Vardarajan, Karan Thapar and other journalists associated with The Wire, misusing section 152 ( BNS) to file multiple criminal cases against them which carry the threat of life imprisonment.
The summons to journalists despite Supreme Court’s protection is a blatant attack on press freedom and democracy itself.
The BJP government in Assam is misusing rebranded sedition laws to intimidate independent voices and silence criticism. We strongly condemned this and demand the withdrawal of the cases forthwith.
The opposition MPs said that we call upon the police to immediately withdraw these malafide cases and for an end to use Section 152 against the media said the statement signed by over ten MPs.
The signatories to the statement include senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, Tiruchi Siva, John Brittas ,Ramgopal Yadav ,Digvijay Singh,Jaya Bachan ,Renuka Choudhary ,Mukul wasnik ,Sakthisinh Gohil,Syed Naseer Hussain
,Javed Ali Khan ,A A Rahim ,V Sivadasan ,R Girirajan and ,Anil kumar Yadav.
