At least 50 Indian journalists and an Editor of Indian based news agency were targeted and arrested by Indian police. NewsClick office and the founder Editor Prabir Purkaystha house were again raided by Indian crime investigative agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday 11 October, according to NewsClick report.    

The report said, a new case was filed by CBI on October 11, after which another search was carried out close on the heels of massive raids and seizure of electronic devices of close to 80 persons, including 50 scribes, on October 3, under the draconian anti terror law, UAPA or Unlawful activites Prevention Act.

Indian Journalist bodies condemn the continued harassment of NewsClick employees in a statement on Wednesday. India’s six media organization issued and appeal for spare laptops and phones for the affected journalists so that their livelihoods are not hit, NewsClick report.    

Earlier On October 3, New Delhi police raided at least 50 journalists house and also arrested NewsClick Editor Prabir Purkaystha and administrator Amit Chakravarty. They were arrested under the draconian anti-terror law and the Unlawful Activites (Prevention) Act, Delhi police said to NDTV.  

Journalists house were searched at 20 locations across Delhi and Mumbai. The police in Delhi swooped down on the homes of 46 people connected to NewsClick – journalists, staffers, contributors, including academics, historians, satirists – seizing their phones and laptops, subjecting them to hours of questioning, largely about their coverage of protests by farmers and by Muslim women, complained by several Indian Journalists.

According to Indian Express, the case was registered against NewsClick and was filed on August 17, 2023. It invokes several sections (13, 16, 17, 18, and 22) of the draconian UAPA, along with 153(a) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 120 (b) (party to a criminal conspiracy other than a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) of the Indian Penal Code.

At least 37 men and nine women were raided and questioned in connection with FIR number 224/2023. While the men were taken to the Delhi police special cell’s office, the women were questioned at their residences. Some documents and electronic devices like laptops and mobile phones were seized by the police for ‘examination’, according to The Wire news.

In 2011, India’s Financial Enforcement Officers raided Newsclick’s offices. Indian court later ordered it to refrain from taking any ‘coercive action’ against the newspaper.

Two months ago, the New York Times reported in an investigative report that NewsClick was linked to an international network promoting pro-China content. For this the network receives Chinese grants. Indian newspaper The Wire had reported how BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had cited the report in the Lok Sabha to claim that Congress leaders and NewsClick had received funds from China to create an “anti-India” atmosphere.

 The Indian authorities also take action against Ms. Arundhati Roy, a prominent critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Hussain came days after the New Delhi police raided the homes and offices of dozens of journalists linked to an online news portal known for criticism of the Indian government.

The renowned novelist Ms. Roy was charged over public comments she made 3 years ago about the restive Kashmir region, the latest step in an intensifying crackdown on free speech by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Tuesday, New Delhi court denied bail to the founder and Editor’s of NewsClick and another person linked to the site and ordered them held for 10 days. The two, who deny any wrongdoing, have been charged under a draconian anti terrorism law called the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Many people charged under the law have spent years languishing in jail before their trials have begun, New York Times report.

Same day, Indian media reported that VK Saxena, the top official in the administration governing Delhi, had given approval for the case to proceed before the courts. Saxena’s directive said there was enough evidence for a case to take place against Roy and her co-defendants “for their speeches at a public function” in the capital, according to the Hindu newspaper report.

The original complaint accuses Roy and others of giving speeches advocating the secession of Kashmir from India, which partly governs the disputed region and claims it in full, as does neighbouring Pakistan. Kashmir is one of the most sensitive topics of public discussion in India, which has fought two wars and countless skirmishes with Pakistan over control of the territory.

Tens of thousands of people, including Indian troops, militants and civilians, have been killed in Kashmir since an insurgency against Indian rule broke out in 1989.

Roy’s home in Delhi was besieged by protesters in 2010 when her remarks from the panel discussion became public.

Two of her co-defendants have died in the 13 years since the case was first lodged. Roy became the first non-expatriate Indian to win the Booker prize for her acclaimed debut novel The God of Small Things in 1997. She is also known for her passionate essays on the plight of the poor and dispossessed in India, occasionally earning the ire of the country’s elite.

In recent years her work has marked her as one of the most high-profile critics of Modi’s government, which has been accused by rights groups and others of targeting activists for criminal prosecution and working to suppress free speech.

Reporters without borders have warned “press freedom is in crisis” in India. Since 2014, India has fallen 21 places in RSF’s World Press freedom index and is now ranked 161^st out of 180 countries.

Photo: Harish Tyagi/EPA