The Editors Guild of India on Friday strongly condemned the move to file an FIR against senior editors and journalists for reporting violence during the tractor parade. It is an attempt to intimidate, harass and suppress the media, the guild said.
The guild said in its statement, that the FIR be immediately withdrawn and the media be allowed to report freely without any fear. Journalists were particularly targeted for reporting incidents related to the death of a protestor, reporting the incident on their private social media handles, and publishing groups.
The guild said it should be noted that on the day of the demonstration and action, much information was received from the eyewitnesses and police present at the scene. In such a situation, it was natural for journalists to report this information. This was in keeping with the established rules of journalism. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh strongly condemn the manner of intimidation by the police, who lodged FIRs against senior editors and journalists for demonstrating farmers' rallies and reporting violence.
Authorities had said on Thursday that the Noida police had registered a case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists on charges of sedition and other charges in connection with the tractor parade and the violence that took place during that time. The journalists whose names are in the FIR include Mrinal Pandey, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath, and Anant Nath. An FIR has also been registered against an unnamed person.