Modi’s India Is “One of the Most Dangerous Countries for Journalists”. The police now routinely file criminal charges against journalists, including sedition charges, for the crime of reporting. @kiccovich and I write for @thenation
thenation.com/article/world/…
thenation.com/article/world/…
"Most recently, others have been harassed and threatened for reporting and documenting anti-Muslim violence in the Indian state of Tripura, where Hindu mobs attacked mosques and properties owned by Muslims."
"Since then, Tripura state police have charged 102 social media accounts, including journalists Meer Faisal and Shyam Meera Singh, under terrorism laws for posting about anti-Muslim violence in Tripura."
. @WatchtheState, set up by @project_polis in 2019, documents & analyzes patterns of state violence, aiming to understand what constitutes it by looking at the physical, structural, and symbolic dimensions of violence and its various social, political, and economic manifestations
Key Findings:
1. India has indeed become a very dangerous place to be a journalist: WTS documentation shows that between May 2019 to August 2021, 256 journalists were attacked for doing their job.
1. India has indeed become a very dangerous place to be a journalist: WTS documentation shows that between May 2019 to August 2021, 256 journalists were attacked for doing their job.
2. The police appear to be the main perpetrators in BJP-ruled states, in Jammu and Kashmir, and in Delhi, where they directly report to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The BJP-ruled states are in general significantly more dangerous for journalists than others.
3. The data collected by WTS over 2 yrs show that the Indian state & its agencies have used FIRs, court orders, physical assault, threats, intimidation, detention, arrests, sexual assault, sedition charges, and UAPA to attack journalists and limit the ability to do their job.
4. The WTS database shows the unprecedented legal harassment of journalists, in effect turning their profession into a criminal activity.
+ The police now routinely file criminal charges against them, including sedition charges, for the crime of reporting.
Journalists have been detained and arrested for reporting victims’ versions during instances of police violence or for contradicting the state-sanctioned description of events.
Journalists have been detained and arrested for reporting victims’ versions during instances of police violence or for contradicting the state-sanctioned description of events.
5. The judiciary has not only failed to prosecute crimes against journalists; it has also contributed to their persecution through the systematic violation of their rights.
6. 🧨🧨The Indian state is effectively using courts, the police, and the prison system to punish journalists. What we see is the emergence of a model where the judiciary coexists and collaborates with the arbitrary power of the ruling government.
7. Law enforcement and robust institutions are key to fighting and ending impunity for attacks against journalists.
8. In India today, however, the very institutions that are meant to protect them play an active role in enabling and sustaining the ongoing assault against journalists and their freedoms.
9. The complicity between the state, the judiciary, and the police in the attempt to silence journalists need to be acknowledged and countered.
10. You can learn more about @watchthestate 's research and mapping in collaboration with @rasagy here: thepolisproject.com/mapping-patter…
11. You can email info at thepolisproject dot com for media queries
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