Agartala: Daily Desher Katha, a Communist Party of India (Marxist)-backed Bangla newspaper, has decided to move Tripura high court against the decision of the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) to cancel its registration. The newspaper has filed a writ petition, editor Samir Paul told PTI on Sunday.
“We filed the writ petition in the high court on Saturday. We are waiting for the petition to be admitted for hearing in the high court. We challenged the decision of the RNI to withdraw our registration,” Paul told reporters.
As reported by The Wire, The RNI order stated that its decision to revoke the certification was based on the Agartala district collector’s information that a subordinate state official had “cancelled” the “authentication” of the declaration submitted by the newspaper’s editor about the change in ownership of the daily.
Also read: In a Blow to Free Media, CPI(M) Tripura Mouthpiece’s Licence Cancelled
According to PTI, a preliminary investigation was conducted by the District Magistrate of West Tripura Sandeep Namdeo Mahatme after a complaint was registered accusing the newspaper of violating several sections of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867. He found that the complaint had substance.
The complainant had alleged that there was a mismatch between the information of editor, printer and publisher provided in the newspapers’ declaration and data maintained with the RNI, among other issues.
The daily, which had previously declared itself as a mouthpiece owned by the CPI(M) Tripura state committee, changed its ownership declaration as a newspaper published from Daily Desher Katha Society. Speaking to The Wire, Rahul Sinha, a senior reporter with the daily had said that the RNI was informed of all the changes and all relevant documents and affidavits were submitted to the collector who failed to update the records.
The newspaper authorities reportedly failed to provide the necessary evidence proving that the Daily Desher Katha Society was formed in 2013 when the issue came up for hearing. The newspaper officials have alleged that this is all a part of a series of attacks by the BJP government in the state.
The Editor’s Guild of India, earlier, condemned the RNI decision to cancel the newspaper’s registration. In a statement, it said, “The Guild is of the view that cancellation of the registration of a publication on the mere finding that there was a mismatch between the information of the editor, printer and publisher is not only a gross overreaction but also a draconian step that throttles freedom of the media.”
(with PTI inputs)