Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 2: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has cautioned the Central and State Governments from misusing the Disaster Management Act (DMA) 2005 to gag press freedom and intimidate journalists.
Marking World Press Freedom Day (May 3), the IJU said media persons are tirelessly working under extraordinary conditions to report on COVID-19 and must also be seen as frontline soldiers aiding the Governments to meet the challenges of the pandemic.
Making a note of recent reported cases of harassment of journalists under the DMA and particularly its sections 51 and 54, the IJU said the nodal Ministry of Information & Broadcasting should issue an advisory to states to refrain from misusing the Act against journalists. It pointed out that Andaman DGP had invoked these sections to arrest a journalist, accusing him of spreading fake news about the administration’s efforts to contain COVID-19 in the Island.
It said further a journalist in UP is being interrogated by the Special Task Force of the State’s police after he reported on low-quality personal protective equipment kits supplied to hospitals and colleges in the State while in Chhattisgarh, a journalist has been served show cause notice for reporting on the plight of a woman who had to sell her fridge to buy rations.
In a statement, IJU president and former Member of Press Council of India (PCI) and IFJ vice president Sabina Inderjit said such actions are a direct attack on the freedom of press, unacceptable in any democratic society and shall impact the fight against COVID-19. A responsible media reporting on shortcomings of Government machineries is certainly not ‘fake news’ but should be viewed as assisting in correcting the lacunae in the delivery system as envisaged to lessen the impact of the lockdown, specially amongst the weaker sections of society.
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