Study flags decline in press freedom in 5 states going for polls in Nov

Over the last five years, six journalists and RTI activists have been killed, 12 attacked, and 16 arrested for their work in the five poll-bound states of Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, according to a study conducted by Free Speech Collective, an organisation working to protect the right to freedom of expression and vigorously promote free speech and the right to dissent in the country.

The report titled, ‘Free speech in the states - between electoral rhetoric and ground reality’, points out that censorship was an abiding feature, either due to government policy or through the weapon of ‘lawfare’, as journalists were slapped with cases ranging from sedition to defamation, causing disharmony and enmity, often struggling with multiple FIRs registered in different police stations.

In these states, there were frequent internet shutdowns, with Rajasthan, ruled by the Congress, leading the chart with 60 instances, 25 of which took place in 2020. Madhya Pradesh experienced three instances of internet shutdowns, while Telangana faced two incidents. A total of 40 journalists were detained and 4 were arrested in Telangana during this period.

In Chhattisgarh, the scourge of “lawfare” resulted in the arrest of 11 journalists, some of them more than once and the lodging of cases against seven journalists. At least 12 journalists faced intimidation and threats of cases being registered against them.

More cases in MP

As per data available with Free Speech Collective, 24 incidents of free speech violations were recorded in Madhya Pradesh. Apart from the killing of two journalists (Chakresh Jain and Sunil Tiwari), the arrests of journalists, stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui and five members of his team, there were 12 instances of “lawfare” against the media. Madhya Pradesh also became a laboratory of sorts for academic censorship with the monitoring of prescribed books, classroom teaching and the targeting of teachers of a minority community, as exemplified by the case against Dr Farhat Khan in Indore.

One journalist was attacked, another was threatened and two faced censorship in Mizoram during the last five years. According to local journalists who sought anonymity, self-censorship had become a norm and divisions on political lines within the media have also not helped the cause of press freedom, says the report.

Over the last five years, as per data available with Free Speech Collective, there were two killings of RTI activists (Jagdish Goliya and Rai Singh Gurjar) while six others were attacked. Of the total of 72 incidents of free speech violations, 60 were of internet shutdowns - among the largest in the country.

As far as Telangana is concerned, there were two killings of journalists and RTI activists (Mamidi Karunakar Reddy and Nalla Ramakrishnaiah) while at least four journalists were arrested and three were attacked. In January 2022, in a shocking incident that amounts to mass intimidation of the media, around 40 journalists were detained for 12 hours for their allegedly unfavourable coverage of the BRS government and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.

As the term of the outgoing state assemblies was also marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown from March 24, 2020, the report points out that it was extremely difficult for journalists to perform their duties freely. In Madhya Pradesh, the scare over the virus resulted in the suspension of print media publications in 95 per cent of the state’s districts. But journalists faced the brunt of covering the pandemic.

“In Telangana, under review as one of the five states that go to the polls, bulldozer policing was used to devastating effect on May 22, 2020, to raze to the ground the residence of V6 News Channel journalist Shanigarapu Parameshwar, who reported on the birthday party of MLA Mahareddy Bhupal Reddy with 500 supporters in violation of the lockdown in Narayankhed,” states the report.

Facing the heat

In Chhattisgarh, despite government assurances and the passage of a media protection law, journalists on the ground were vulnerable to false cases. In Surguja division alone, which comprises six districts, 22 journalists have faced the brunt for their reporting, most of whom have been arrested or have had cases slapped against them. Take the case of Sunil Namdev, who runs a YouTube channel News Today. Reporting on COVID violations by the ruling party members, corruption in construction, and the arrest of senior IAS officers who colluded with the government in the coal mafia scam, promptly landed him in jail, where he has been lodged since May 2023. Jitendra Jaiswal, a journalist from Ambikapur who runs a digital news platform, Bharat Samman has 12 cases against him - one during the 15-year-old BJP rule and the rest in the last five years of Congress rule. Jaiswal has recently been given a notice of ‘jilla badal’ (externment) placing him under the list of ‘gunda-badmash’ (gangster).

According to the study, ‘internet shutdowns are normalised, despite the immense resultant disruption in peoples’ lives. Shutdowns were implemented ignoring the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of India in the Anuradha Bhasin case. In Rajasthan alone, of the five states under review, the internet was shut down on a whopping 60 occasions recorded by the FSC State Index, a majority of which were to clamp down on protests.

The report was prepared by a four-member team of journalists, lawyers and civil society activists, Geeta Seshu, Laxmi Murthy, Malini Subramaniam and Sarita Ramamoorthy, along with the data support of Shabari Rao. Ground-level inputs and analysis were done by journalists and human rights activists in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Telangana.