Put an end to using government agencies to stifle free press in India: All India Kisan Sabha
At around 8 am on 9 February 2021, the Enforcement Directorate simultaneously launched search and seizure raids at 8 locations associated with NewsClick, a digital news portal. The raid at the portal’s office, in South Delhi’s Said-ul-Ajaib locality, lasted over 38 hours, until 10 pm on 10 February. During this period, the editors and management staff present were not allowed to exit the premises, while the rest of the staff was barred from entering. The raid at NewsClick’s editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha’s home went on for 5 days, while the raids at other residences ended on the night of 9 February. Prabir and his partner Githa Hariharan were not allowed to leave the house for the entire period.
On 14 February, the All India Kisan Sabha issued a statement condemning the raid on Newsclick. The statement is reproduced below.
AIKS strongly condemns raid on News Click
Attack on free press reminds resemblance of emergency
Call for public protest against the Modi-Amit Sha duo
AIKS strongly demands the Modi Government to put an end to the wicked way of using government agencies to suppress and stifle the voice of free press in India. The latest in these series of action is the raid by ED on the News Click, a reputed news portal known for its independent, brave views committed to the cause of the toiling masses. The immediate provocation of the raid is clearly the wide and effective reporting of the ongoing farmers struggle. Some corporate newspapers have placed the notion of irregularities on receiving foreign fund of Rs.30 crore as the reason behind the raid. This is part of a well designed strategy to first tarnish the image of the institution and individuals who are targeted and thus create confusion among the public.
The attack on Prabir Prkayastha, Pranchal and Geetha Hariharan of the News Click is the latest one after the series of cases that have been registered against news outlet the Caravan, distinguished journalists including Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Zafar Agha, Vinod K Jose and the Parliamentarian Sasi Taroor of Congress(I) among others. The Supreme Court has prevented arrest in these cases. The Delhi Police and other State Police of the BJP ruled States are misusing Sedition clauses to target the freedom of expression is a very serious issue of concern. The sedition clauses and draconian Acts including UAPA have been misused against vast number of innocent citizens for raising voice of dissent.
The Government of India has registered cases against Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg for expressing solidarity to the farmer’s struggle demanding repeal of the 3 farm acts is a shame. Now a 21 year old student at Mount Carmel College of Bengaluru Disha Ravi has been arrested and remanded in Delhi Police Custody in connection with this case.
In the Bhima Koregaon case, evidences were manufactured to put innocent people in sedition cases and keep them in jail for years without trial. A forensic lab in the United States has found that the computer of Rona Wilson an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case was hacked and a malware was installed which planted incriminating mails in his files, which he had never seen. This has been verified by other experts. It was these mails which were claimed by the NIA to be part of the conspiracy and put many activists in jail without trial for the last two years. These are gross human right violations happening under the authoritarian administration of Modi Government against which massive public upsurge are warranted.
The ongoing massive, peaceful determined and consistent farmers struggle has been successful in exposing these authoritarian trends of the Modi Government. In this context AIKS calls up on all the mass and class organizations and progressive individuals across the country to come forward and strongly protests against the attack on freedom of expression and right to protest by the authoritarian Modi Government.
With regards
Ashok Dhawale
President
Hannan Mollah
General Secretary