Haryana 3rd state to book Tharoor, Rajdeep for R-Day tweets

After Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Haryana has become the third state to pursue cases against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and senior journalists such as Rajdeep Sardesai in connection with the violence that erupted during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on Republic Day. The BJP is in power in all three states.

Gurugram police on Saturday filed an FIR against the accused who allegedly spread false information on social media and were responsible for the violence. The FIR was lodged based on a complaint by Mahabir Singh, a resident of Jharsa, who alleged that the actions of the accused had caused “grave prejudice to the security of the nation”.

Besides Sardesai of India Today, the accused journalists include Mrinal Pande of National Herald, Vinod Jose and Paresh Nath of The Caravan magazine, Zafar Agha of Quami Awaz, who have been named in the Gurugram police’s FIR. They allegedly posted “mala fide, defamatory, false, misleading, and instigating tweets” before the Republic Day violence.

They have been booked under 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 153B (assertions prejudicial to national-integration), and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In UP and MP, too, the accused have been booked for sedition, criminal conspiracy, and promoting enmity.

The Editors Guild of India had on Friday condemned the “intimidating manner in which UP and MP police have registered FIRs against senior journalists, for reporting on farmers’ protests in Delhi on Jan 26”. In a statement, it said that it finds these FIRs as an attempt to “intimidate, harass, and stifle free media”.

The Editors Guild of India condemns the intimidating manner in which UP and MP police have registered FIRs against senior journalists, for reporting on farmers’ protests in Delhi on Jan 26. EGI finds these FIRs as an attempt to intimidate, harass, and stifle free media. pic.twitter.com/Mf3albnYvs

— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) January 29, 2021

“The journalists have been specifically targeted for reporting the accounts pertaining to the death of one of the protestors on their personal social media handles as well as those of the publications they lead and represent. It must be noted that on the day of the protest and high action, several reports were emerging from eyewitnesses on the ground as well as from the police, and therefore it was only natural for journalists to report all the details as they emerged. This is in line with established norms of journalistic practice,” read the statement.

On January 26, thousands of protesting farmers had clashed with police during the tractor rally called by farmer unions to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws. Many of them, driving tractors, reached Red Fort and entered the monument. Some even hoisted religious flags on its domes and the flagstaff at the ramparts.

Related news | Tharoor, Rajdeep, other journalists booked for sedition over R-Day violence