Hours after the police searched The Wire’s office and its editors’ homes in Delhi and Mumbai, the Digipub News India Foundation said the “arbitrary” action, based on a private complaint of defamation, “smacks of mala fide intentions”. It pointed out that the danger of these searches “being used as an excuse” to seize and duplicate confidential and sensitive data “cannot be dismissed”.
“A journalist or a media organisation that publishes a false report ought to be held accountable by its peers and civil society. But for the police to carry out an immediate and arbitrary search of the media house’s office and its editors’ homes, based entirely on a private complaint of defamation filed by a spokesperson of the ruling party, smacks of mala fide intentions,” the foundation said in a statement.
