New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India has released a statement, expressing shock at the “cavalier manner” in which the Uttar Pradesh law enforcement has dealt with the death of journalist Sulabh Srivastava, who, days before his death had been threatened by the liquor mafia over reports.
Srivastava, as The Wire has reported, had earlier written to the state police, expressing fear over threats.
“He believed that some people were following him. The authorities paid no heed to his fears. Srivastava died a couple of days after he wrote the letter to the police,” the Guild has noted in its statement.
Uttar Pradesh Police has said, in spite of Srivastava’s worries, that the ABP journalist died in a motorcycle accident.
“He fell from his motorcycle near a brick kiln…He was taken to the district hospital where the doctors declared him dead,” a Pratapgarh police official was quoted by NDTV as having said.
Sulabh Srivastava. Photo: Twitter
The Guild’s statement says police passed off his death by claiming that his motorcycle rammed into a hand pump. The letter is signed by Guild president Seema Mustafa, general secretary Sanjay Kapoor and treasurer Anant Nath.
The statement also notes that Srivastava’s death comes at a time when media and journalists are under increasing pressures from the Central and several state governments “who insist that they follow the official narrative regarding the administration’s handling of the pandemic.”
The Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, particularly, has threatened action under the National Security Act and the Gangsters Act against “anti-social elements” who spread “rumours” and propaganda on social media on shortages during the second wave of COVID-19, calling the SOS posts during that time a method of trying to “spoil the atmosphere”.
The District Magistrate of Kanpur wrote to the newspaper Amar Ujala, asking it to add a clarification for carrying a news item claiming that “476 cremations” had taken place on a day when Uttar Pradesh had claimed only nine deaths took place in Kanpur district.
Also read: COVID-19: The Adityanath Government Has Moved From Denial to Intimidation
“What is further worrying is that the police and the local authorities liberally and unjustifiably use laws such as sedition and UAPA to file charges and arrest journalists,” the statement noted, adding that this goes against the spirit of the judgment given by the Supreme Court in Kedar Nath Singh case.
The guild also cited the recent sedition case against Vinod Dua, which was quashed by the Supreme Court. The charges were registered against Dua, following a complaint by a BJP leader from Himachal Pradesh for making comments critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central government.
“Journalists and cartoonists critical of the government are also being targeted on social media, as pressures are being mounted by the government on these platforms to remove such critical journalists on the specious ground that they are violating the law of the land.”
The Guild’s statement ostensibly refers to the fact that four days after popular political cartoonist Manjul received a notice from Twitter stating that Indian authorities had instructed it to take action against his page, he was suspended with “immediate effect” from Network 18 on June 8.
“All of this is contrary to the commitments that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made at the G-7 summit to democracy, openness and against authoritarianism,” the Guild’s statement noted.