UNDECLARED EMERGENCY FOR PRESS FREEDOM IN INDIA

JIBRAN NAZIR (PHOTO /VIDEO SAURABH SHRIVASTAVA) TENNEWS

Condemning the attack on a Muslim journalist, Basit Malik, in Sonia Vihar, Delhi where he had gone to cover the incident of demolition of a mosque, a journalist’s meet was held at Press Club today.

The country has touched new lows over the freedom of expression, said a senior journalist, Seema Mustafa. “The media in this country are going through crisis, much like 1977 emergency where authorities make every attempt to crush the dissent voices,” she said.

Also, condemning the attacks on four Muslim persons in Faridabad that resulted in death of one of the victims, she said “It is unfortunate how the media in our country is losing itself to a heinous design, disregarding its ethical responsibility,” she said, “Today, all the newspapers had carried front-page stories on the killing of a police officer in Kashmir by mob, and not even a single column was produced on the Faridabad incident.”

Speaking on the occasion, TV journalist Ravish Kumar said, “We have become a mobocracy, and some prominent TV channels are actually encouraging the lynch-mob against minorities and dissent voices, spreading their versions of ultra-nationalism.”

“Today, if a Muslim travels in a train, he is concerned over what food to carry with him, fearing that his tiffin might be checked by someone. They are even afraid to carry eggs, leave alone chicken and meat, fearing that they might have to face the wrath of the ultra-national mob,” Ravish rued.

Nidhi Razdhan, a journalist, said that the time for condemning and protesting it over. “Things can’t be changed by mere protests, it’s the time that we take offensive and map out how to hold those accountable who are behind the crisis that we are faces during these time.”