Just like the case against the awe-worthy @sharmasupriya for her reporting in #Varanasi, here's a list of FIRs filed against #journalists in #UttarPradesh in the last year. Fasten your seatbelts, it will not be a short #Thread
#PressFreedom #lockdown2020 1/n
#PressFreedom #lockdown2020 1/n
In March, at the height of the #lcokdown, @thewire_in's @svaradarajan was delivered a legal notice by police from Ayodhya. A quote in an article was wrongly attributed UP the Chief Minister, which was retracted and a corrigendum issued.
On 26 March, DM of #Varanasi sent a legal notice to Hindi daily Jansandesh Times claiming their report about tribal children eating grass for want of food due to the sudden announcement of the lockdown on March 24 was false. 3/n
In September 2019, Jansandesh Times reporter in Azamgarh was arrested for a report about students being made to clean the floors and the premises of the school they are studying in. 4/n
In August 2019, journalist Pawan Kumar Jaiswal was booked for “criminal conspiracy”. He had shot a video of students being served only salt with rotis in their mid-day meals in Mirzapur district. 5/n
In June, Noida police Anuj Shukla and Ishita Singh, of Nation Live on charges of attempting to incite violence and for allegedly defaming CM Adityanath. 6/n
Although there was no FIR, in June 2019, Railway Police in Shamli allegedly assaulted a News 24 journalist, who was reporting on an incident of a train derailment. He alleged that that policemen urinated in his mouth. Four policemen were later suspended. 7/n
A month earlier, 5 #journalists were booked by police in Bijnor after they reported that a Dalit family was denied the right to draw water from a hand pump at Basi village of the district. 8/n
High chances that many of the cases are not documented. The only way we will fight against a State that wants to muzzle our voices is by supporting independent journalism. Please do read @sharmasupriya's fantastic reporting from Varanasi. She has 8 stories published this month.
Read and share each one of them. Many times over.
