Hem Bhatt, senior journalist detained by Dehradun police after being taken at 4.00 AM from his house and mobile confiscated
There is lot of resentment among the journalist fraternity in Dehradun and other parts of Uttarakhand after he was picked up by the police at early morning 4 .00 AM in ludung taking away the phone of his wife without assigning any reason.
Hem Bhatt is a vociferous and fearless journalist of Jai Bharat TV a local news channel who was on February 26 attacked by three miscreants in Dalanwala area, race course road, near MKP Chowk Dehradun in the evening hours when the journalist was heading towards his residence on his two wheeler.
Two miscreants were nabbed by the police after tremendous pressure from various media bodies including the Press Club of India. The media fraternity is terming this early morning whisking away of the journalist from his house including grabbing his wife’s mobile as the direct attack on media independence/ freedom.
They are questioning the Uttarakhand police whether they are the protagonist of the political party in power or the saviour of the common people. Does it mean that journalists should bow down before the ruling political dispensation asked the journalists.
Whenever the government is afraid, the pen is the first to be attacked. Because the government knows that a voice that speaks the truth has the power to awaken the public.
It is no secret how the entire world views the Indian media today. Questions have been raised on the impartiality and independence of the Indian media on numerous platforms abroad. The country has not forgotten the incident in Norway, when a common foreign journalist mocked the working style of the Indian media and dared to insult our country’s image and even the Prime Minister.
This wasn’t just an insult to an individual, but a questioning of a media system that, instead of questioning the powers that be, often appears to be a shield for the powers that be.
Unfortunately, today, a large segment of India’s media, instead of serving as the voice of the people, is becoming a symbol of “sponsored nationalism” and “devotion to power.” Journalists who question the government face prosecution, pressure, threats, and arrests—this has become the new democratic model said one of the posts in social media.
The Uttarakhand Journalists Forum while strongly condemning this section termed this as an action to stifle the voice of free media adding further that the ever-increasing repressive incidents in Uttarakhand are a matter of grave concern. The abduction of journalists in the dead of night proves that the government is terrified of criticism.
A government that fears questions has already begun its moral decline saud the media body.
It may be recalled that the journalist turned founder of Rashtriya Regional Party Shiv Prasad Semwal was also arrested during the chief ministership of Trivendra Singh Rawat for being extremely vocal in issues sdaj st the government , arrested in alleged firged charges of demanding money etc.
Similarly , the senior journalist , advocate and former lecturer in HNB Garhwal University and currently the vice president of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal was arrested in fabricated charges of SC, ST ACT his main falt being that he has raised and spearheaded a widespread movement in Ankita Bhandari case opposing the power that be and demanding the arrest of the VIP.
