Ambedkar Nagar: After the High Court’s comment, PM and CM have also announced that, those who misbehave with journalists will be fined Rs 50,000 and can be imprisoned for 3 years for misbehaving with journalists. Those who threaten journalists will be sent to jail within 24 hours. Those arrested for threatening journalists will not get bail easily. CM Yogi says that if journalists are in trouble, contact immediately and provide help and talk to journalists with respect or else it will cost you dearly.
FIR will be registered against those who misbehave:
FIR will be registered against the misbehaving police personnel, otherwise action will be taken against the SSP. Journalists are not part of the crowd. Due to increasing atrocities on journalists and inappropriate behavior of the police, many times journalists are not able to do their work freely, keeping this in mind, the President of the Press Council of India, Markandey Katju, has warned the state governments and also instructed that the police etc. should not misbehave with journalists.
In case of violence or riot at any place, the police cannot interfere with the journalists in their work. The police cannot behave with journalists the way they remove the crowd.
In case of this, a criminal case will be registered against the misbehaving – policemen or officers. Katju said, “Just like a lawyer fights his client’s murder case in court, he does not become the murderer. Similarly, journalists do their work in a public place but they are not a part of the crowd. Therefore, stopping journalists from doing their work is a violation of media freedom.”
Instructions given to all states:
The Press Council has sent instructions in this regard to the Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries and Home Secretaries of all the states and has clearly stated that violence by the police or paramilitary forces against journalists will not be tolerated. Governments should ensure that no such action is taken against journalists anywhere. Violence against journalists by the police will be considered a violation of the right to media freedom which is given in Article 19 A of the Constitution and under this section of the Constitution, a criminal case will be registered against the policeman or officer who misbehaves.
