The Press Club of India (PCI) on Wednesday expressed concern over the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s direction to the The Caravan magazine to take down a story on the Army’s alleged “torture and murder of civilians in Jammu”.
The story titled ‘Screams from the Army Post’ has been taken down because of the Ministry’s order issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, it said.
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“The actions of the MIB [Ministry of Information & Broadcasting] gravely infringes the freedom of the Press, which has seen a serious slide in the past few years. India’s Press Freedom Ranking of 161 out of 180 countries is a testimony to this fact and no amount of “rejection” by the government can alter this truth,” said the PCI.
It urged the Ministry to withdraw the order. “The Caravan reported on an important story and the people of the country have the right to know. We also support the statement of Hartosh Singh Bal, executive editor of the journal, who said: ‘This is a fundamental challenge to our right to report the truth, the citizens’ right to know the truth. It cannot and will not go uncontested.’ We urge all media organisations to take up this issue urgently,” the PCI said.
