PRESS FREEDOM AND FREE SPEECH IN 2018

Media freedom continued to deteriorate in the first quarter of 2018 in India.

The first quarter of 2018 has seen three killings and 13 attacks on
journalists, defamation cases that came to trial, a sedition case
against a journalist and a clear push by both state and central
government and the judiciary, through regulatory policy as well as
judicial orders, to curb free speech.  There were also around 50
instances of censorship, and more than 20 instances of suspension of
Internet services, as well as  the take down of online content.

Journalists continued to be vulnerable.

The Hoot’s 2017 report
had documented the murder of three journalists which could be clearly
linked to their journalism.  In the first four months of 2018 as well,
three journalists were killed in connection with their reporting,
judging by  what initial investigations show.

For 2017 we had documented 46 attacks on journalists and media
workers. Between January and April 2018, there have been 13 already all
across the country, three of them in West Bengal.

Killings

In two separate incidents, three journalists were killed when they were mowed down by vehicles. On March 26, two Dainik Bhaskar
journalists, Navin Nishchal and Vijay Singh, were killed when their
bike was hit by an SUV in Bhojpur, near Patna, Bihar. Police said the
vehicle was driven by a villager leader Mohammad Harsu. He was arrested.
Initial reports said
that a heated argument between Harsu, husband of a former panchayat
mukhia, and the reporters over a news report had preceded the accident.
However, the investigation is not complete.

A day later, a television reporter Sandeep Sharma was mowed down by a
truck in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh. Sharma, who had done a sting operation
on a sand mining mafia in Bhind, had told police that he had received
threats to his life.  The driver, Ranvir Singh, was arrested.

The suspects

A Hoot investigation of the state of media freedom from January 1 to
April 30, 2018, reveals that a range of actors,  from politicians,
businesspersons, members of Hindu right wing organisations, the police
and paramilitary forces, government agencies like the film certification
board, the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry, different state
governments, lawyers and even media organisations, have acted to
undermine freedom of expression.

Attacks

There were 14 attacks on journalists in the first quarter of the
year. In five of these instances, there were targeted attacks against
journalists investigating or writing about an issue. In at least ten
instances, the perpetrators were either members of Hindu right wing
organisations or the police. An unidentified assailant hurled a petrol
bomb at the residence of Shillong Times Editor, Patricia
Mukhim. The latter said that she was targeted for a range of writings
about issues that troubled society. Her most recent articles criticized
rampant and illegal mining in Meghalaya.

Perpetrators of other targeted attacks included the timber mafia. Mob
violence was sponsored by party workers of both the BJP and the
Trinamool Congress, Hindu extremists and the police. In one instance,
the Delhi police molested a woman journalist covering a student protest.
They later apologized, stating that they mistook her for a student!.   

• Jan 1, 2018 , Mumbai, Maharashtra : Protesters snatch Republic TV reporter Shravan Sen’s camera

• Jan 7, 2018, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: A Facebook post by Damayantee Dhar who reports for Th
• Jan 1, 2018 , Mumbai, Maharashtra : Protesters snatch Republic TV reporter Shravan Sen’s camera
• Jan 7, 2018, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: A Facebook post by Damayantee Dhar who reports for The Wire records an attack on herself and another reporter from the Ahmedabad Mirror on January 7 by a “mob of 15-20 dalit men” headed by Keval Rathod.
• Jan 23, 2018, Athiabari, Meghalaya: Timber mafia attack journalist Biplab Dey            
• January 31, 2018, Meerut,Uttar Pradesh: Journalist assaulted by mob of Hindu Yuva Vahini activists
• Feb 14, 2018, Kolkata, West Bengal: Senior journalist Navalkant Sinha assaulted by Hindu Samhati Workers in Kolkata
• Feb 22, 2018, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh : Payment scuffle, hostel management attack student and Journalists of a news channel
•  Wire records an attack on herself and another reporter from the Ahmedabad Mirror on January 7 by a “mob of 15-20 dalit men” headed by Keval Rathod
• Jan 23, 2018, Athiabari, Meghalaya: Timber mafia attack journalist Biplab Dey           
• January 31, 2018, Meerut,Uttar Pradesh: Journalist assaulted by mob of Hindu Yuva Vahini activists
• Feb 14, 2018, Kolkata, West Bengal: Senior journalist Navalkant Sinha assaulted by Hindu Samhati Workers in Kolkata

• Feb 22, 2018, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh : Payment scuffle, hostel management attack student and Journalists of a news channel

• March 10, 2018, Assam-Mizoram border:  Assam police thrashes Mizo
  journalists. Emmy Lawbei, journalist with a television channel, was
  mercilessly beaten up by the police though she showed her identity card to them.

• March 24, 2018, New Delhi: Delhi Police Officer molests Female Journalist; Police said they mistook her to be a student.
• March 25, 2018, Malappuram, Kerala:  journalist N C Shareef, was mercilessly beaten up locked up and assaulted by the Areekode police. Police claimed they didn’t know he was a reporter
• April 1, 2018, Khowai District:  Tripura TV journalist Anup Debbarma, severely assaulted by a BJP worker

• April 8, 2018, Kavinagar, Ghaziabad: TV journalist Anuj Chawdhary shot outside
  his home, by by sharpshooters allegedly working for Shekhar Chaudhary ,
  a former local councillor charged with the murder of BJP leader Brijpal
  Teotia 

• April 9, 2018, Alipore, West Bengal : Photojournalist Diplab Mondal Covering Bengal Panchayat Poll Violence Alleges Assault by TMC Goons

• April 17, 2018, Umpling, Meghalaya: Petrol bomb attack on residence of Shillong Times editor Patricia Mukhim

• April 20, 2018, Siliguri, West Bengal: TMC workers assault journalists
  when they went to Chayanpara in Siliguri to cover a scuffle between
  workers from TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Attackers

Threats and harassment

Journalists were at the receiving end of threats from those
identified as members of Hindu right wing organisations in three out of
five instances. In another, a television journalist received death
threats from unidentified persons following the channel’s coverage of
the Kasganj violence. In one instance, personnel of the CRPF accosted a
tribal journalist in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. 

In serious cases of online harassment, intimidation and death
threats, journalists were trolled and their personal details shared on
social media. A woman journalist found that her Twitter account was compromised by fake messages and morphed pictures were circulated. Journalists filed police complaints but no arrests have been made. 

Threats and harassment

(CRPF: Central Reserve Police Force)

Arrests and detentions

While journalists in the field were subjected to mob attacks, others
were picked up by police when they went to cover protests, as in the case
of two journalists from Kerala reporting on a ‘caste’ wall in a
village. While restrictions on foreign media continued with the denial
of  visas to Australian journalists who had earlier done a story related to Gautam Adani, two foreign journalists were detained
by Kerala police for covering a Valentines’s Day celebration in a
college. Other instances of arrests and detentions were for social media
posts that satirized or were critical of politicians and political
leaders. In Chennai the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on April 27 arrested a person who allegedly posted derogatory statement on Facebook against Electricity Minister P. Thangamani.

Arrests and detention

As protests raged over the rape of minors and violence against
marginalized communities, dalits, students, the climate for free speech
reflected both a menacing intolerance for dissenting viewpoints and a
crackdown on civil rights. Apart from the dangerous attacks on
journalists, others were harassed and their personal details shared
online, they were threatened and became victims of fake news as hate
messages attributed to them went viral.

The judiciary, hitherto a reassuring protector of free speech, sent
mixed signals as different courts ordered gags on media coverage, fined
and penalized media
houses for violating the law on disclosure of the identity of minor
victims of sexual assault and took up petitions alleging contempt of
court.

In February, in a written reply
to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home
Hansraj Ahir said that in 2017, there were 15 attacks on journalists in
which 26 people were arrested. Between 2015-17, there were 90 attacks on
journalists and 108 people were arrested, the minister said, referring
to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for the
last three years.

The figures are at complete variance with The Hoot’s own research as the ‘THE INDIA FREEDOM REPORT: Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in 2017’
recorded a verified number of 46 attacks on journalists.The minister
also said that the Home Ministry has no information on whether any
organisation or organisations were responsible for the attacks on media
persons.

But, as the above findings of The Hoot show, the perpetrators are only too well known.

Sedition

On April 30, journalist Kamal Shukla was charged with sedition by the
Katwali police station in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district for sharing a
cartoon on social media on the rape of a minor girl in Kathua in Jammu
and Kashmir, allegedly lampooning the country’s judiciary and government on Facebook.

Shukla, editor of Bhumkaal Samachar and active in highlighting fake
encounters in the area, is also head of the Patrakar Suraksha Kanoon
Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti which has campaigned for a law to protect
journalists. He was booked for sedition on the basis of a complaint
filed by a Rajasthan resident.  

Defamation

Proceedings continued in five cases of defamation even as gags on the
publication of the news reports were lifted in two cases - that of Jay
Amit Shah against The Wire and that of Arindam Chaudhari against Caravan magazine. In the case of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari against Manushi editor and commentator Madhu Kishwar, the case went to trial.

A defamation case was filed by Fatima Nafees, mother of Jawaharlal
Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmed, who has been missing since
October 2016, against certain media houses for labelling her son an
“ISIS sympathizer.

In another case, Congress leader Jagdish Tytler threatened to file a
criminal defamation case against the creators of a sting video that
purportedly linked him to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Tytler, who said his
images were morphed, submitted a memorandum to the Home Ministry
stating that he has registered a police complaint.

Policy curbs and censorship

Amidst these attacks, the Union and state governments announced policies that would curb media freedom

The most active censoring agency was clearly the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting (I&B), which announced several policy
measures (and rolled back only one) to monitor the content of print,
broadcast and online media.

In January, it announced that it has widened the ambit of district
monitoring committees to cover the monitoring of content of private FM
channels and Community Radio Stations (CRS) in addition to TV channels.

In April, the I&B Ministry announced fresh guidelines for penal
action against accredited journalists who spread fake news but this
sparked a furore and was withdrawn within 24 hours. However, it was
followed up with the setting up of a committee comprising bureaucrats
and members of the Press Council of India and the News Broadcasters
Standards Authority to regulate online content.

Reports that the Ministry planned to radio-tag journalists who
visited government offices were denied by the Ministry, but the news
website which reported this stood by its report.

Censorship 

Censorship of news, broadcast, online media and film continued
unabated. There were more than nine instances of news being censored,
including curbs on news-gathering itself by various state governments
and the Centre. These included restrictions on the movement of
journalists in government offices and the legislative assemblies,
threats of penal action for news that allegedly contained ‘harsh words’
and even ostensible guidelines from the National Investigation Authority
on the duties of a journalist!

More than 20 films ran into trouble with the Central Board of Film
Certification (CBFC) while news was censored nine times. Both feature
films and documentaries continued to languish between the CBFC, the Film
Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) and the courts.

Even court orders certifying films for commercial release and a name change did not ensure safe passage, as in the case of Padmavat,
where members of the Rajput Karni Sena managed to get the governments
of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to ban the film in these
states. The producer of the film Unfreedom chose to exhibit his
film on an online video streaming platform to circumvent the censorship
when his film was denied a certificate by the CBFC.

Who censored films

Who censored news

Who censored broadcasts

Who censored online media

(*No official confirmation)

Who censored music

Singer Sona Mohapatra
filed a written application at Santacruz police station late on April
30, stating that she received a threat allegedly from Madariya Sufi
Foundation, asking her to remove a new music video from all
communication mediums for being “vulgar, hurting and insulting Islamic
religious sentiments.”

Other censorship included the take down of content allegedly
satirizing the speech of the son of Reliance Industries Chairperson
Mukesh Ambani from online news sites, the takedown of videos of Congress-I President Rahul Gandhi and the termination of the services of a journalist for tweeting about fake news spread by the media house.

However, an order by the NBSA to Zee Television to apologise for, and
take down, a video of a programme calling scientist and poet Gauhar
Raza anti-national has not been complied with, marking yet another setback to media freedom.

Internet shutdowns

The Internet continued to be at the mercy of local district
administrations and state governments, as internet services were
suspended for varying periods due to protests or the outbreak of
violence in 25 instances, seven of which were in Jammu and Kashmir.

The most absurd of the shutdowns was in Srinagar when the authorities
suspended internet services over rumours that Pakistani cricketer
Shahid Afridi would address a gathering at the Jama Masjid.

Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, with four instances each, recorded
internet shutdowns as district administrations suspended internet
services during the nationwide bandh called by dalit
organisations against the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Scheduled Castes
and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. In West Bengal, internet
services were suspended following violence during the Ram Navami
celebrations. 

Internet shutdowns continued to be imposed through Section 144 as a law and order measure.

Internet Shutdowns

Apart from fears of regulation of online content, a Citizen
Lab-Indian Express study revealed that websites of a range of groups,
including human rights groups, NGOs, feminist groups and LGBT groups had
been blocked with Netsweeper software.

The firm filtered content for ISPs in ten countries and at least 12
ISPs in India utilized its services. ‘A testing period between August
2017 and April 2018 saw “the highest number of blocked unique URLS” -
1,158 out of 2,464 - in India,’ the report said. 

Privacy, Aadhar, Surveillance

In a blatant move to curb any further investigations into the misuse
of Aadhar, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) filed an
FIR against the reporter and editor of The Tribune newspaper
for their reports on the Aadhaar data leak reports. In the midst of
concerns over Cambridge Analytica and Facebook’s breach of data, the
Indian Government issued two notices to the two companies and given them
time till May 10 to furnish a reply.

However, the government’s own surveillance of citizens is still a
matter of concern. In March, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry
wrote to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to get all
Direct To Home (DTH) operators to install a chip in new set-top boxes,
which can give data about channels watched by the viewers and their
duration.

Judicial orders

While the Bombay High Court lifted the gag on media coverage of the
Sohrabuddin killing trial, the Delhi Hig h Court imposed a ban on media
coverage of the bribery case of former district judge I. M. Quddussi.
The Delhi High Court also took up suo moto notice of the disclosure of
the identity of child victims of sexual assault by media houses, imposed
a Rs 1 lakh penalty on 13 prominent media houses, and issued notices to
other websites.

In the wake of the Loya judgement, though not expressly stated as
such, the Supreme Court allowed a writ seeking contempt of court
proceedings against comments or opinions expressed in the media
allegedly critical of its judgements.

In favour of media freedom 

Despite the ominous number and range of attacks on media freedom, the
ongoing struggle to resist these curbs does yield results. In April, an
injunction on the publication of a book on yoga guru and businessperson
Baba Ramdev by Priyanka Pathak-Narain and published by Juggernaut Books
was lifted by a district court in Delhi.

In January, the Bombay High Court lifted a gag order on media
coverage of the Sohrabbudin trial following a petition filed by nine
journalists and the Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists.

Raw data can be  found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f4eCUYZB8P2Y3b40jtYbD_SbCuW1sG0z69ZO4dmaCQI/edit?usp=sharing

Report Author: Geeta Seshu

 Research: Geeta Seshu with:

Anushka Jain,

Mignon Mascarenhas,

Srishti Patnaik,

Viraj Gaur and

Yash Agarwal

of the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication

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