They’re Curbing Free Speech: Amnesty on FIRs Against J&K Journos

Here’s what Amnesty International had to say.

Masrat Zahra, a photojournalist from Jammu and Kashmir.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An FIR was registered by the Jammu and Kashmir police against senior journalist Peerzada Ashiq, working for The Hindu, over a story he had filed recently. He was called in by the cyber police on Sunday, 19 April.

Another photojournalist Masrat Zahra took to Twitter on Tuesday, 21 April, saying it was time to "defend my rights as a journalist", a day after it was reported that she had been booked for allegedly posting 'anti-national' content on social media.

Zahra was charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. According to a police official, a case had been registered against her for allegedly uploading 'anti-national' posts with criminal intention to induce the youth and promote offences against tranquility.

Responding to news that the Jammu and Kashmir police have invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against these journalists for allegedly spreading ‘misinformation’, Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India said, “The two new First Information Reports (FIR) against journalists in Kashmir that initiate investigations against them by the police signal the authorities’ attempt to curb the right to freedom of expression.”

He added, “Harassment and intimidation of journalists through draconian laws such as UAPA threatens the efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic and creates an atmosphere of fear and reprisal.”

“In Kashmir, this has been compounded through the general lockdown, prolonged restrictions on internet speed and arbitrary detentions often without any kind of documentation, access to lawyers and recourse to justice. This severely undermines the human rights guarantees of the people of Kashmir and denies the people in India and around the world’s right to know.”

Peerzada Ashiq was asked to travel some 40 kilometres to present himself to the concerned police officer. He told Amnesty International, “This is second instance, since August 2019, when I was summoned and questioned by police. This time it was about two of my stories: one on diversion of COVID testing kits from Kashmir to Jammu and another on killing of two militants in South Kashmir, who were buried in North Kashmir’s Baramulla. I was questioned for reporting on the claims of the families who said that they were allowed to travel to collect the bodies (but were later denied the permission).”

A press release by the Cyber Police Station Kashmir Zone, Srinagar said that the work of these journalists could ‘provoke the public to disturb law and order’, ‘glorify anti-national activities’ and ‘cause fear or alarm in the minds of the public.’