‘Working Under Threat’: Press Bodies Seek Chief Justice’s Intervention In NewsClick Arrests

New Delhi: The Press Club of India (PCI) and other prominent journalist bodies have sought the intervention of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud in the matter of recent police raids on journalists’ houses and seizure of their devices.

PCI apart, the letter addressed to Justice Chandrachud has been signed by organisations like Digipub News India Foundation and Indian Women’s Press Corps, reported PTI.

A large section of journalists in India finds itself “working under the threat of reprisal,” said the journalist bodies. “And it is imperative that the Judiciary confronts power with a fundamental truth – that there is a Constitution to which we are all answerable.”

Among their demands are framing of norms to discourage “seizure of journalists’ phones and laptops on a whim, as has been the case”, evolving guidelines for interrogation of journalists and seizures from them, ensure that these are not undertaken as fishing expeditions with no bearing on actual offences and finding ways to ensure the accountability of state agencies.

The press organisations cited the instance of recent raids conducted at the residences of 46 employees of news portal NewsClick, including journalists, editors, writers and professionals.

“Subjecting journalists to a concentrated criminal process because the government disapproves of their coverage of national and international affairs is an attempt to chill the press by threat of reprisal-the very ingredient you identified as a threat to freedom,” the letter stated.

“We do not say that journalists are above the law. We are not and do not wish to be. However, intimidation of the media affects the democratic fabric of society. As journalists and news professionals, we are always ready and willing to cooperate with any bona fide investigation. However, ad hoc, sweeping seizures and interrogations surely cannot be considered acceptable in any democratic country, let alone one that has begun advertising itself as the ‘mother of democracy,” said the letter to the CJI.