Three journalists held for posting ‘defamatory’ content on Yogi Adityanath, Editors Guild call it ‘misuse of laws’ 

Yogi Adityanath.

New Delhi: Three journalists were arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police, on Saturday, in two different cases for allegedly posting and airing defamatory content against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Workers affiliated to a political party had approached the police with a complaint against a private TV channel for broadcasting defamatory statements of a woman without verifying facts, leading to the arrest of Ishika Singh, head of News Live channel, and its editor Anuj Shukla from Noida, on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Prashant Kanojia, a freelance journalist who was picked up by Lucknow Police from Delhi, under charges of “defamation” and “transmitting indecent material in electronic form”, for allegedly sharing a video on social media as an “objectionable” post about Adityanath.

While condemning the arrest of the three journalists, the Editors Guild, on Sunday, issued a statement saying police action amounts to misuse of laws, and it seems like an effort to intimidate the press and stifle freedom of expression.

The Guild said, “Whatever the accuracy of the woman’s claims, to register a case of criminal defamation against the journalists for sharing it on the social media and airing it on a television channel is a brazen misuse of law. To give the police powers to arrest, provisions of Section 66 of the IT Act have also been added.”

Apart from the three journalists, another man was arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur for another “defamatory” post social media after UP Police received a complaint on Twitter. The UP Police tweeted about it on Sunday evening. A mobile phone was also seized from the man.

Meanwhile, Prashant Kanojia’s wife, Jagisha Arora, moved the Supreme Court, on Monday, against the arrest of her husband. The matter was presented before Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Indira Banerjee.

The court has agreed to hear the matter on Tuesday.

Related