New Delhi: More than 200 journalists have condemned the FIRs filed against Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, by the Uttar Pradesh government. On April 10, the Uttar Pradesh police served a notice on The Wire and summoned Varadarajan to Ayodhya on April 14, despite the fact that the nationwide lockdown will still be in effect then.
“The manner in which the U.P government and its police have been pursuing this with a single-minded agenda smacks of vindictiveness. The state has an extra responsibility to exercise restraint on use of its powers when citizens are restricted in exercising many of their usual democratic rights.,” the statement says.
The complete statement and the full list of signatories has been reproduced below.
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More than 200 journalists condemn attempts to muzzle the media
Statement dated April 11, 2020
We, the undersigned members of the journalist fraternity, strongly condemn the FIRs filed against Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor of the Wire by the Uttar Pradesh government. This constitutes nothing but a brazen attempt to muzzle the media. The Wire was accused of causing panic when it reported that UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath attended a religious event on March 25 at Ayodhya on the occasion of Ram Navmi, when a national lockdown was in force.
The Wire has held that the CM’s presence was a matter of public record and knowledge. A sentence in an article in the Wire had wrongly attributed a statement made by Acharya Paramhans to the chief minister, which was not only retracted but a corrigendum issued as well.
Rather than let the matter end there, a FIR was filed in Faizabad district. On April 10, a team of the UP police descended at Siddharth Varadarajan’s residence to serve him a notice for appearing on April 14, irrespective of the fact that a nationwide lockdown was in force. The manner in which the U.P government and its police have been pursuing this with a single-minded agenda smacks of vindictiveness. The state has an extra responsibility to exercise restraint on use of its powers when citizens are restricted in exercising many of their usual democratic rights. Freedom of the press is doubly important in such a context as people cannot make news themselves, but independent media is the most important medium of expressing their concerns. We demand that such politically motivated harassment of media persons should stop immediately.
Supported and endorsed by:
- N.Ram, Chairman of The Hindu Group of Publications
- Sreenivasan Jain, NDTV
- Alan Rusbridger, Former Editor, The Guardian
- Rajdeep Sardesai, Senior Journalist, India Today TV
- Suhasini Haider, The Hindu
- Swati Chaturvedi, Senior Journalist
- R. Vijaya Sankar, Editor, Frontline
- Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, Sr Associate Editor, Frontline
- T.K Rajalakshmi, Frontline
- Maya Mirchandani, Senior Journalist
- Harish Khare, Senior Journalist and Columnist
- Prem Shankar Jha, Senior Columnist
- Sagarika Ghose, Senior Journalist, Times of India
- Om Thanvi, Senior Journalist and Former Editor, Jansatta
- Anuradha Bhasin, Editor, Kashmir Times
- Sonia Singh, Editorial Director, NDTV
- Shobhna Jain, Sr. Journalist
- Sonal Kellogg, Independent Journalist
- Aruna Singh, Independent Journalist
- Ravinder Bawa, Independent Journalist
- Neelam Jeena, Sr, Correspondent, Sandhya Jyoti Darpan Daily
- Parul Sharma, Independent Journalist.
- Sajjad Haider, Editor, Kashmir Observer
- Saif Khalid, Deputy Editor, Al Jazeera
- Priti Prakash, Editor, facenfacts
- Parul Jain, Freelancer
- Anjali Deshpande, Independent Journalist.
- Sujata Madhok, Independent Journalist.
- Seema Mustafa, Editor, The Citizen
- Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Senior Journalist
- Saroj Dhuliya, Navbharat times.
- Aditi Nigam, Newsclick
- Anju Grover, Independent Journalist.
- Kiran Shaheen, Independent Journalist.
- Karuna John, Independent Journalist.
- Vidya Subramaniam, Independent Journalist
- Sumita Mehta, Sr. Journalist
- Ashlin Mathew, journalist
- Hema Ramakrishnan, Senior journalist
- Anjali Ojha, Journalist
- Subodh Verma, Newsclick
- A.M. Jigeesh, Business Line.
- Ajoy Ashirwaad, The Wire
- Iftikhar Geelani, Senior Journalist
- Majid Maqbool, Contributor, Foreign Policy, The Globe Post
- Teesta Setalvad, Senior Journalist
- Majid Hyderi, Independent journalist and TV commentator
- P L Vincent, senior journalist
- Rosalyn D’Mello, Freelancer
- Praveen Khariwal, President, Press club of MP
- Gautam Lahiri, Senior Journalist
- John Cherian, Frontline
- A.J. Phillip, Senior Journalist
- Jose Kalathil, Senior Journalist
- Rashmi Sehgal, Sr. Journalist
- Ramesh Menon, Contributing Editor, India Legal
- Albert Thyrniang, Contributor, Shillong Times
- Avtar Negi, Senior Journalist
- Dr John Dayal, former treasurer, Editors’ Guild of India, Author
- Neha Dixit, Independent journalist
- Sonia Khurana, Visual artist
- Shuddhabrata Sengupta, artist and writer
- Akshaya Mukul, Journalist and writer
- Revati Laul, Independent Journalist
- Manoj Mitta, Journalist and author
- Divya Trivedi, Frontline
- Arti Jaiman, Community broadcaster
- Nirmal John, journalist and author
- Anando Bhakto, Frontline
- Shweta Rashmi, Independent Journalist
- Neerja Chowdhury, Senior Journalist
- Anita Saluja, Senior Journalist
- Aniruddha Bahal, Senior Journalist
- Jeejo Augustine, Senior Journalist, Borneo Bulletin
- Ravivarma , Navamalayali current affairs online (political editor)
- Shankar Raghuraman, Senior journalist
- P K Datta, Senior journalist
- Debashis Chatterji, Senior journalist
- G.Shankar, President, Kerala Patrapravarthaka Association
- Shastri Ramachandaran, senior journalist, (Editorial Consultant, WION)
- Purnima Tripathi, Frontline
- V. Venkatesan, Frontline
- Pankaj Molekhi, senior journalist
- Akshay Deshmane, Huffington Post.
- Ammu Joseph, Journalist and author
- Gokul Krishnamoorthy. Independent Columnist (ET Brand Equity, Financial Express).
- Anand Kochukudy, Editor, The Kochi Post
- T V Jayan, Senior Deputy Editor, Hindu Business Line
- Shajahan Madampat, Columnist, Outlook
- Ajaz Ashraf, Freelancer.
- Gayatri J, Consultant, Sabha TV, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
- VM Deepa, Senior Consultant, Sabha TV, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
- Sundeep Dougal, Independent Journalist
- Raksha Kumar, Independent journalist
- Sushma Varma, Senior Journalist
- Laxmi Murthy, Independent Journalist
- VK Raveendran, Editor, Gaddhika Daily, Payyannuur, Kerala
- Rajaram S, Senior Executive Editor, Carees360
- Preetha Nair, Outlook magazine
- Sukumar Muralidharan, Freelance Journalist.
- P. V. Thomas, Freelance Journalist.
- Swati Goswami, Independent Writer, Ahmedabad
- Priya Raveendran, Senior Consultant, Sabha TV, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
- Nirmesh Singh, AgriNation
- Saimi Sattar, The Pioneer
- Bishakha De Sarkar, The Hindu Business Line
- Smitha Verma, freelance journalist
- Japleen Pasricha,
- Preeti Mehra, journalist, New Delhi
- Sudhanva Deshpande, publisher
- Anita Dube, Artist, Gr. Noida
- Asad Ashraf, Independent journalist
- Samita Bhatia, Lifestyle writer
- Jagan Negi freelance, Photo-Journalist
- CJ Kuncheria, The India Forum
- Sunil Menon, Outlook magazine
- N.B. Nair, Executive Editor, Indian Science Journal
- Ajith Pillai, journalist
- Gargi Parsai, Senior Journalist
- Saroj Nagi, Senior Journalist
- Dhamini, Journalist
- Dr Suresh Mathew, Editor, Indian Currents Weekly
- Raza Haider, Documentary filmmaker
- Nupur Basu, Documentary filmmaker
- Kay Benedict, Freelance
- P.M. Narayanan, Chief Producer, South Asia, ARD, German TV
- Geeta Seshu, Co-editor, Free Speech by Collective
- Kushal Jeena, Journalist
- Ziya Us Salam, Frontline
- Aditi Bhal, Journalist
- Dr Mukesh Kumar, Senior Journalist
- Shachi Chaturvedi, Senior Journalist
- Nadeem Ahmed, Journalist
- Rahil Chopra, Journalist
- Trina Shankar, Newsclick
- Fazal Imam Mallick, Senior Journalist
- Rukmini Anandani, Senior Journalist
- Rithambara Shastri, Senior Journalist
- Sagari Chhabra, Filmmaker
- Anita Katyal, Senior Columnist
- Kuldeep Kumar, Senior Columnist
- Roja S., Senior Content Co-ordinator, Sabha TV
- Sruthisagar Yamunan, Scroll.in
- Arvind Tiwari, Indore Press Club
- Saurabh Duggal, Chandigarh Press Club
- Shruti Chaturvedi
- Natasha Badhwar, author and film-maker
- Charu Soni, Independent Journalist
- Brinelle D’Souza
- Aftab Ahmad
- Shambhavi
- Aesha Datta, Economic Times
- Amiti Sen, Business Line
- Renu Mittal, Senior Journalist
- M.M. Dileep, Senior Journalist
- Anil Thomas, Senior Journalist
- Shaji Joseph, Senior Journalist
- Cedric Prakash, Senior Journalist
- Mrinal Vallari, Journalist, Jansatta
- Usha Rai, Senior Journalist
- Shubha Singh, Senior Journalist
- Sujata Mathur, Senior Journalist
- Tripta Batra, Senior Journalist
- Syed Nooruzzaman, Senior Journalist
- Francis Arackal, Senior Journalist
- Bindu Abraham, Sr. Journalist
- Lijo Thomas, Sr. Journalist
- Lissy M, Sr. Journalist
- Wilson Kappatil, Senior Journalist
- Ignatius Gonsalves, Senior Journalist
- Jose Kavi, Senior Journalist
- Tessy Jacob, Senior Journalist
- F.M. Britto, Senior Journalist
- Bindu Abraham, Senior Journalist
- Asrar Khan, Senior Journalist
- B.P. Dobhal, Senior Journalist
- Vineeta Pandey, Senior Journalist
- Gowhar Geelani, Senior Journalist.
- Dr Dinesh Kadam, writer.
- Antara Dev Sen, Senior Journalist
- Bhasha Singh, Senior Journalist
- V. Sridhar, Frontline
- Sabith Muhammad, Independent Journalist, Kerala
- K.M. Rakesh, The Telegraph
- K.S. Dakshina Murthy, Independent Journalist
- K.P. Mohan, Senior Sports Journalist
- Radhika Ramseshan, Senior Journalist
- Chitti Pantulu, Senior Journalist
- M. Prabhu, Senior Journalist
- K. Giriprakash, Senior Journalist
- G. Krishnan, Senior Journalist
- Parvathi Menon, Independent Journalist
- Bageshree. S, Senior Journalist
- Amulya Gopalakrishnan, Senior Journalist
- Afshan Yasmeen, Senior Journalist
- Bidanda Chengappa, Senior Journalist
- K.G. Vasuki, Senior Journalist
- Vikas Pathak, Freelance Journalist
- Vrinda Gopinath, Independent Journalist
- Mannika Chopra, Independent Journalist
- R.K. Radhakrishnan, Frontline
- K.K. Shahina, Senior Journalist
- Girdhar Narayan, The Hindu
- Richa Bansal, Independent Journalist
- Ilangovan Rajasekaran, Frontline
- Anupama Katakam, Frontline
- Lyla Bavadam, Frontline
- Angana Parekh, Senior Journalist
- Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhya, Frontline
- Sarthak Ray, Financial Express
- S. Srinivasan, Senior Journalist
- Neena Vyas, Senior Journalist
- Vikhar Ahmed, Frontline
- Shivani Rawat, Senior Journalist
- Bhaskar Chatterjee, Editor, Political and National Affairs, National TV, Kolkata
- Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, Senior Columnist