Hundreds of people across India have been affected by the sudden shutdown of COVID-19 natiowide. (Representative)
Lucknow:
A Delhi-based journalist working for a news website has been charged by Varanasi police for a report she recently filed in the eastern district of Uttar Pradesh which is the Lok Sabha district of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Supriya Sharma, who works for Scroll.in, has been charged with defamation, “act of negligence likely to spread infection,” and articles of caste and tribe law listed on the basis of a lawsuit. a woman whose case study was part of a story about the ration distribution system she brought back from Domari, a village adopted by PM Modi.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that her case had been poorly reported by the journalist and presented as a case of extreme poverty and hunger when it was not. The FIR in the case was filed on June 13.
In a statement, Ms. Sharma’s publication said: “Scroll.in interviewed Mala in the village of Domari, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, June 5, 2020. Her statements were faithfully reported in the article titled” In the village of Varanasi adopted by Prime Minister Modi, people were hungry during the foreclosure. “
“Scroll.in sticks to article, which was reported by the Prime Minister’s constituency. This FIR is an attempt to intimidate and silence independent journalism, reporting on the conditions of vulnerable groups during the foreclosure COVID-19. “
The case against Ms. Sharma includes inadmissible sections and is the latest complaint by Uttar Pradesh police against a journalist for reporting against the government or its ministers.
Last year, after students from a public school in Mirzapur district in eastern Uttar Pradesh were filmed eating roasts with salt for lunch as part of a flagship program of the central government, a lawsuit was filed by the state government against the reporter who shot the video. The charges against the journalist were later dropped.
Since 2017, India has slipped six places in the world press freedom index prepared by the world organization Reporters Without Borders and currently ranks 142nd out of 180 countries.
“There have been constant violations of press freedom, including police violence against journalists, ambushes of political activists and reprisals caused by criminal groups or corrupt local officials,” the organization said in its statement. Annual Report.
