അന്വേഷണം വാർത്തകൾ ലഭിക്കാന്‍ വാട്സാപ്പ് ഗ്രൂപ്പില്‍ ചേരൂ.ന്യൂഡൽഹി: ഇന്ത്യയിലുടനീളമുള്ള മാധ്യമപ്രവർത്തകരുടെയും മാധ്യമസ്ഥാപനങ്ങളുടെയും പതിനെട്ട് സംഘടനകൾ സംയുക്തമായി ചീഫ് ജസ്റ്റിസ് ഓഫ് ഇന്ത്യക്ക് കത്തയച്ചു. രാജ്യത്ത് മാധ്യമസ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിന് നേരെയുള്ള ആക്രമണങ്ങൾ ജുഡീഷ്യറിയുടെ ശ്രദ്ധയിൽപ്പെടുത്തണമെന്ന് ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ട് ജസ്റ്റീസ് ചന്ദ്രചൂഡിന് ആണ് അപേക്ഷ സമർപ്പിച്ചത്.
ന്യൂസ്‌ക്ലിക്ക് എന്ന ഓൺലൈൻ വാർത്താ പോർട്ടലുമായി ഏതെങ്കിലും തരത്തിൽ അല്ലെങ്കിൽ മറ്റൊരു തരത്തിൽ ബന്ധമുള്ളതായി തോന്നുന്ന 46 മാധ്യമപ്രവർത്തകർ, എഡിറ്റർമാർ, എഴുത്തുകാർ, പ്രൊഫഷണലുകൾ എന്നിവരെ ഡൽഹി പോലീസ് റെയ്ഡ് ചെയ്യുകയും ചോദ്യം ചെയ്യുകയും ചെയ്‌തതിന് തൊട്ടുപിന്നാലെയാണ് ഈ ഹർജി. മാധ്യമപ്രവർത്തകരുടെ നിരവധി ഇലക്ട്രോണിക് ഉപകരണങ്ങൾ പിടിച്ചെടുത്തു, പോർട്ടലിന്റെ ഡയറക്ടർ പ്രബിർ പുർകയസ്തയെയും അതിന്റെ എച്ച്ആർ മേധാവി അമിത് ചക്രവർത്തിയെയും അറസ്റ്റ് ചെയ്തു.
മാധ്യമപ്രവർത്തകരുടെ ഫോണുകളും ലാപ്‌ടോപ്പുകളും യഥേഷ്ടം പിടിച്ചെടുക്കുന്നത് നിരുത്സാഹപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതിനും മാധ്യമപ്രവർത്തകരെ ചോദ്യം ചെയ്യുന്നതിനു മാർഗനിർദേശങ്ങൾ വികസിപ്പിക്കുന്നതിനും സർക്കാർ ഏജൻസികളുടെയും വ്യക്തികളുടെയും ഉത്തരവാദിത്തം ഉറപ്പാക്കുന്നതിനുള്ള മാർഗങ്ങൾ കണ്ടെത്തുന്നതിനും കത്ത് കോടതിയുടെ സഹായം തേടിയിട്ടുണ്ട്.
വിവിധ നഗരങ്ങളിലെ പ്രസ് ക്ലബുകൾ ഉൾപ്പെടെയുള്ള സംഘടനകൾ ഒപ്പിട്ട നിവേദനത്തിൽ, മാധ്യമപ്രവർത്തകർ നിയമത്തിന് അതീതരായിരിക്കണമെന്ന് ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നില്ല, മറിച്ച് അവരോട് അത് അനുസരിച്ച് പെരുമാറണമെന്ന് മാത്രം, ആവശ്യപ്പെടുന്നു.
കത്തിൻ്റെ പൂർണ രൂപം
Dear Chief Justice Chandrachud,
We write this letter as a voluntary and free coalition of organisations that represent the free press and who are committed to upholding the values of freedom of speech and expression enshrined in our Constitution. This letter is an earnest plea to the sentinel on the qui vive, weather-beaten as that phrase may have become—an appeal from one institution that is essential for the exercise of freedom and democracy in India, to one that is Supreme and is sworn to protect the Constitution that enshrines those freedoms.We write this letter conscious of the fact that it is addressed not just to the Chief Justice of India but to an incumbent who has said, within the court and
outside, that the “press has a duty to speak truth to power and present citizens with hard facts enabling them to make choices that propel democracy in the right direction” and that India’s freedoms will be safe as long as journalists can play this role “without being chilled by a threat of
reprisal”.The fact is that today, a large section of journalists in India finds itself working under the threat of reprisal. And it is imperative that the Judiciary confronts Power with a fundamental Truth—that there is a Constitution to which we
are all answerable.
On October 3, 2023, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police raided the homes of 46 journalists, editors, writers, and professionals seemingly connected in one way or another to the online news portal, NewsClick. The raids led to the
arrest of two persons under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the seizure of mobile phones and computers without ensuring the integrity of their data—a basic protocol that is essential to due process. The invocation of UAPA is especially chilling. Journalism cannot be prosecuted as ‘terrorism’. Enough instances in history abound to tell us where that eventually goes.During your time at the Supreme Court, you have seen how on numerous
occasions, the country’s investigating agencies have been misused and weaponised against the Press. Sedition and terrorism cases have been filed against editors and reporters, and multiple, sequential and/or frivolous FIRs
have been used as an instrument of harassment against journalists.The purpose of addressing this letter to you is not to bypass or circumvent the process and procedure established by law. But when journalists are
summoned and their devices seized in the name of investigation, there is an inherent malice in the process that must be checked. Just as the police are obliged by the Constitution to state the grounds of arrest, it must equally be a precondition to questioning. In its absence, as we
have seen in the NewsClick case, vague assertions about the investigation of some unspecified offence have become the grounds for questioning journalists about their coverage of, inter alia, the farmers’ movement, the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic and the protest against the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act.We do not say that journalists are above the law. We are not and do not wish
to be. However, intimidation of the media affects the democratic fabric of society. And subjecting journalists to a concentrated criminal process because the government disapproves of their coverage of national andinternational affairs is an attempt to chill the press by threat of reprisal—the very ingredient you identified as a threat to freedom.
Wide powers of investigation are given to the state on the assumption of bonafides on the part of its agencies. Equally, a wide immunity against coercion must be read into the constitutional provisions of free speech, and
methods must be devised against police overreach—especially given the repeated misuse of these powers. Far too much is at stake to test every case at the end of a trial which can last years.
Journalists arrested under UAPA can end up spending months, if not years, behind bars before they are even granted bail. We already have the case of Siddique Kappan before us; he was incarcerated for two years and four months before finally securing bail. The tragic death of Father Stan Swamy in custody is a reminder of how indifferent the authorities seem to have become towards human life under the guise of combating ‘terrorism’.
Our fear is that state actions against the media have been taken beyond measure, and should they be allowed to continue in the direction they are headed, it may be too late for corrective or remedial steps. It is, therefore, our
collective view that the Higher Judiciary must now intervene to put an end to the increasingly repressive use of investigating agencies against the media.
Specifically, we would be obliged if the courts would consider:
1. The framing of norms to discourage the seizure of journalists’ phones and laptops on a whim, as has been the case. The Supreme Court is seized of this issue in a writ petition filed by noted academics—Ram Ramaswamy & Ors. v. Union of India, W.P. (Crl) No. 138/2021 – and has
not been satisfied by the affidavits filed by the Union of India in these proceedings. While the wheels of justice have been turning, the State has continued to act with impunity. The seizure of devices compromises our professional work. As the Supreme Court itself has observed (in the Pegasus matter), the protection of sources is an “important and necessary corollary” of freedom of media. But laptops
and phones are no longer just official tools used to conduct official business. They have fundamentally become an extension of one’s self. These devices are integrated into our entire lives and have vital personal information contained in them—from communication to photographs to conversations with family and friends. There is no reason or justification that investigating agencies should have access to such material.
2. Evolving guidelines for the interrogation of journalists and for seizures from them, to ensure that these are not undertaken as fishing expeditions with no bearing to an actual offence.
3. Finding ways to ensure the accountability of State agencies and individual officers who are found overstepping the law or willfully misleading courts with vague and open-ended investigations against journalists for their journalistic work. We, the undersigned, write this letter to your lordship after considerable thought and contemplation. There have been many instances over the past few years when assaults on the free press by the State have required judicial intervention, and we continue to pursue such cases. But the developments over the past 24 hours have left us no option but to appeal to your good conscience to take cognisance and intervene before it is too late and an autocratic police state becomes the norm. As journalists and news professionals, we are always ready and willing to cooperate with any bona fide investigation. However, ad hoc, sweeping seizures and interrogations surely cannot be considered acceptable in any democratic country, let alone one that has begun advertising itself as the ‘mother of democracy’.
Sincerely,
Digipub News India Foundation
Indian Women’s Press Corps
Press Club of India, New Delhi
Foundation for Media Professionals
Network of Women in Media, India
Chandigarh Press Club
National Alliance of Journalists
Delhi Union of Journalists
Kerala Union of Working Journalists
Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists
Free Speech Collective, Mumbai
Mumbai Press Club
Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists
Press Association
Guwahati Press Club
Indian Journalists’ Union
Press Club, Hyderabad
Telangana Union of Working Journalists
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