New Delhi: The Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists (BUJ) has expressed concern at two recent instances of police investigation against members of the media in Maharashtra, both of which, according to the group, raises serious doubts about the impartiality of investigation.
In the first instance, BUJ cites the harassment faced by journalist Prateek Goyal of Newslaundry. Goyal was served a defamation notice and an FIR under the Trademarks Act was registered for his report on the sacking of around 15 staffers of the Sakal Media Group on March 27.
“On November 1, police from Vishrambaug police station in Pune, visited the reporter’s residence to seize his laptop, though this is patently illegal and violative of his privacy,” says BUJ in a statement which also calls the FIR preposterous.
Also read: Newslaundry Says Its Reporter Is Facing Harassment From Pawar Family’s Sakal Media
Sakal Media Group is owned by Pratap Pawar, brother of NCP leader Sharad Pawar. Pawar’s party forms one-third of Maharashtra’s ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition. Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule is a director in the company.
“The logo [of Sakal Media in the story, which police found was a violation of the Trademarks Act] was clearly used to bring in some visual element into the report, a common enough practice in editorial page-making. At best, the media house could have just asked for its removal instead of filing a criminal case against the reporter,” the BUJ noted.
The second instance cited by BUJ was the arrest of the owner of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami for investigation into the death by suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in Alibaug in May 2018.
“Disturbingly, Raigad police closed the case in April 2019 and Naik’s daughter alleged that police had acted under pressure from the then BJP-led government of Devendra Fadnavis to close the case. In May 2020, she petitioned the State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to seek a reopening of the case,” the journalists’ body noted.
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BUJ recognised that the arrest has led to a chorus of protests from BJP leaders at the Centre.
“Indeed, Goswami’s arrest comes in the wake of multiple FIRs and cases filed against him and his channel for two distinct issues – that of allegations of fixing TRP readings…and two, the inflammatory programmes on the Palghar lynching and the assemblage of migrants at Bandra railway station. The channel played a leading role in the shocking media circus that followed the tragic death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and its programmes were marked by an oppositional stance against the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi.”
While noting that it deplores the “precipitous decline of journalistic ethics at the hands of media outlets, including The Republic”, the media body likens Goswami’s arrest to Goyal’s hounding, citing both as a partisan employment of law enforcing agencies.
“Such acts affect the rights of all citizens and cast a cloud on all investigations, jeopardizing all voices of dissent and ultimately weakening the struggle for justice,” it noted.
Signed by the body’s general secretary Indrakumar Jain, the BUJ makes five demands quoted below:
1. That the case against the Newslaundry journalist Prateek Goyal be quashed and all harassment against him be stopped forthwith.
2. That the sacked employees of Sakal Media Group be reinstated immediately with full back wages.
3. That the Maharashtra government ensures that working journalists are accorded all protections guaranteed under law.
4. That all the investigations against Arnab Goswami of The Republic be conducted in a transparent manner, leaving no room for any charge of vindictiveness or vendetta.
5. That the complaint filed by the family of Anvay Naik is investigated thoroughly without any interference so as to ensure justice and a sensitive and dignified closure.