Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor urged the Union Home Minister, on Friday, 11 February, to expedite the immediate release of journalists Sajad Gul, Fahad Shah, and Siddique Kappan who have been arrested on several charges.
Tharoor raised the matter in Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour, aiming to preserve freedom of press in the nation. He stated that Kappan, a journalist from Kerala, was kept in "prolonged detention" under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in Uttar Pradesh, while Shah and Gul were arrested on charges like sedition and under the Public Safety Act respectively in Jammu and Kashmir.
"I've raised the issue of press freedom in Parliament. Journalists are being arrested for doing their job. Two Kashmiri journalists have been arrested. This is a really dangerous situation."Congress MP Shashi Tharoor told ANI
"Journalists in Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh or anywhere in the country deserve to do their job safely and without fear of arrest... The government should release journalists and let them do their work."Shashi Tharoor added
“Standing up for the truth is deemed anti-national. Showing the mirror to a deeply intolerant & authoritarian government is also anti-national. Fahad’s journalistic work speaks for itself & depicts the ground reality unpalatable to GOI," former J&K Chief Minister and People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti had tweeted following Shah's arrest earlier in February, asking how many Fahads the police would arrest.
Shah was arrested on 4 February for allegedly sharing social media posts with "anti-national" content with "criminal intention" that aimed to disturb law and order, said the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police.
The Jammu and Kashmir police had arrested Gul from the north Kashmir district of Bandipora on charges of provoking “ill-will against the government” amid concerns over deteriorating press freedom in the former state where mediapersons complain about heightened levels of official persecution since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
However, Kappan was arrested and jailed in October 2020 while trying to report on the rape and death of a Dalit girl in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh and has been imprisoned ever since. The Uttar Pradesh Police had filed a 5,000-page charge sheet against him.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)
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