TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The Editors Guild of India on Friday strongly condemned the filing of FIRs against senior editors and journalists for their reporting on the farmers’ tractor rally and the ensuing violence in New Delhi on Republic Day, saying it was an attempt to “intimidate, harass and stifle” the media. In a statement, the Guild demanded that such FIRs be withdrawn immediately and the media be allowed to report without fear and with freedom.
It said journalists have been specifically targeted for reporting the accounts pertaining to the death of one of the protestors on their personal social media handles as well as those of the publications they lead and represent. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists have been booked by the Noida police for sedition, among other charges, over the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi, officials said on Thursday.
The FIR was lodged following a complaint by a resident who alleged that “digital broadcast” and “social media posts” by these people were responsible for the violence during a tractor rally by farmers in the national capital. The journalists named in the FIR are Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath. An unidentified person has also been named in the FIR.
