Journalist Arrested On ‘Fake News’ Charge; Media Being Gagged, Says Editor

Pithoragarh: A journalist of a local news portal was arrested for posting a video of a man accusing two persons of sexually assaulting his minor daughter and her cousin.

Pithoragarh police brought charges of promoting enmity between groups and extorting money by manufacturing fake news on the scribe.

Ajay Prakash, owner and editor of news portal Janjwar.com, told The Indian Express that the video did not promote enmity and his employee was just performing his duty. Prakash called it ‘police brutality’ and alleged that the media was being oppressed.

Police claimed that Kishore Ram did not have any ID document to prove that he was a journalist and worked for Janjwar.com.

According to Pithoragarh SP Lokeshwer Singh, Kishore had levelled false allegations and extorted money earlier also.

Kishore, booked under Section 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of the IPC, was arrested after thorough investigation.

The video shows a man accusing two men of tricking his 15-year-old daughter and her 17-year-old cousin to get into their car and sexually assaulting them. He further alleges that the ‘culprits’ dumped the two girls on Pithoragarh highway.

Police said no such complaint had been received.