CHENNAI: The members of the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), Chennai chapter, organised a protest against police action on NewsClick stating it was an attack on the freedom of media, outside Chennai Press Club on Saturday.
They termed the invoking of the “draconian” Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against journalists an ‘undeclared emergency.’ Under the section of the UAPA that is connected with raising funds for terrorist acts, the prosecution need not prove the allegations. The punishment for this section is five years in prison to life imprisonment.
“Since the wordings in the Act are vague, the prosecution can name any act as criminal or terror. Mere possession of a book or material related to any organisation has been considered incriminatory in the past,” said Vaishna Roy, editor of Frontline. While the FIR claims that NewsClick took money from the Chinese to publish paid news against the Indian government, no such news has been brought to scrutiny.
Chairperson of the Asian College of Journalism Sashi Kumar said even those who were reluctant to compare the situation in the country to the emergency in 1975 are now convinced that the situation is similar. “This is an undeclared emergency. If you put free press behind bars, you have no right to call yourself a democracy. Elections don’t constitute democracy as many fascists were elected to power,” he said.