The Editors Guild of India, on Sunday, 4 October, issued a statement condemning the treatment meted out, to reporters attempting to cover the Hathras case, by the law enforcement agencies of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government. The statement read:
“The Editors Guild condemns the manner in which law enforcement agencies of the Uttar Pradesh government, led by Yogi Adityanath, have prevented media persons from reporting on developments in an around Hathras after a brutal assault on a woman leading to her death and the hurried cremation of her body by the authorities without the presence of the government.”
The Editors Guild has also condemned the tapping of journalists’ phones.
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“Worse the tapped conversations of the journalists have been selectively leaked, leading to a social media calumny against them,” said the Editors Guild.
The statement also said that these acts of the UP Government undermines and obstructs the functioning of the media and demanded that the government may create conditions conducive to reportage in Hathras.
Further, the statement said:
“Hathras is the worst such case in the scale of interference but the Guild also notes with concern that such attacks against the media are becoming part of a growing trend seen in recent months, in which a few other state governments have also indulged in such harassment of journalist.”
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