PCI and IWPC unequivocally demand withdrawal of FIRs registered against the two journalists

The Press Club of India and Indian Women Press Corps have unequivocally demanded immediate revocation of FIR registered against journalists Zakir Ali Tyagi and Wasim Akram Tyagi under sections 196 and 353 of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita ( BNS) for reporting on social media alleged lynching , leading to death , of a man from minority community in Shamli district of Western Uttar Pradesh. In a press statement issued here the president of Press Club of India Gautam Lahiri and President of IWPC Parul Sharma said that reporting publicly available information , irrespective of the medium of the message , qualifies as bonafide journalism adding that such arbitrary application of BNS tantamount to intimidation of journalists in direct violation of Article 19(1)(A) of the Constitution. They also endorsed the statement issued earlier in the day by DIGIPUB, a coalition of more than 90 digital media outlets and freelance journalists which states : Registering an FIR against journalists sharing information in public interest is a grave overreach and misuse of criminal laws that has a chilling effect. The statement clarified emphasised that while the police has contested that the nature of the incident was not communal in nature, there is no cause for filing cases against journalists who are putting out the information available to them. We unequivocally demand withdrawal of FIRs registered against the two journalists wrote Gautam Lahiri and Parul Sharma of PCI and IWPC.