The harassment against certain journalists in the country has escalated, and journalists from the Muslim community or those supporting the minorities are being targeted, N. Ram, Director of The Hindu Publishing Group, said here on Monday. He also contended that the higher judiciary was inconsistent on free speech and media freedom.
During a panel discussion on ‘Legal Challenges Faced by Journalists in India’ in Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) at Taramani, moderated by Kunal Majumder, India’s representative in the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Mr. Ram pointed out that journalists, who were earlier targeted with civil defamation charges, were now being tried with criminal defamation and then with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The 1967 Act, which goes back a long way, was earlier either rarely or never used but today various agencies played the “tricks”, backed by the Central and various State governments, Mr. Ram said and pointed out the case of journalist Siddique Kappan, who remained in jail even though the Supreme Court had put the sedition law on hold. Tamil Nadu was in a much better space than many other States in India, Mr. Ram said.
