Image Courtesy:gijn.org
Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) must stop the harassment of journalist Ashish Sagar Dixit, said Human Rights Defenders – Alert (HRDA) on March 21, 2022. The forum alleged that the environment and RTI activist has been facing fabricated cases and intimidation from the Banda police since the start of the year.
The police listed Dixit as a “history-sheeter” on January 5, when two officers visited the Bundelkhand Press Trust Founder and Voice of Bundelkhand Digital Editor’s house. Since January 5, the journalist has received multiple notices from the police and judiciary regarding as many as six cases filed against him.
The HRDA demanded an inquiry into these FIRs saying, “Depending on the result of the inquiry, direct the DGP to initiate action against the police and administrative officials responsible for abuse of power and continued harassment of journalist Dixit.”
On January 9, he received another notice from the city magistrate that described him as a person of criminal nature. The sub-city magistrate ordered his presence in the district court on February 8, to argue against the penalisation of one surety bond and two bail bonds of ₹ 50,000 each. This was followed by yet another notice by the district magistrate regarding his Facebook post. In it, Dixit said that the current district magistrate had lodged an FIR on journalist Pawan Jaiswal earlier, for a news report on mid-day meals of salt with roti to school children.
On February 12, Dixit replied that he was being harassed with fabricated charges and apologised for unintentionally hurting the official’s image. Similarly, he wrote to the Banda Superintendent of Police on February 15, to reiterate the conspiracy against him. He said the allegations were politically motivated due to his journalistic work. Still, he did not receive a response.
“We would like to express our grave concern about the extreme mental and legal harassment being faced by Mr. Dixit for his work as a journalist. We believe that the multiple charges against him, showing him as a hardened criminal, are fabricated and an abuse of power by the police personnel and local administration,” said HRDA.
Citing the freedom of speech and expression, the human rights defenders’ forum demanded that the National Human Rights Commission warn the State Chief Secretary against the misuse of laws to criminalise the same or harass journalists.
“If journalists are targeted when they criticise public officials, they will seldom dare to take a stand and the democracy will be crushed further,” it said.
HRDA said that the fabricated charges against Dixit and similar harassment demonstrate the abuse of power by the state police to stop journalists from criticising public officials. The protection of journalists and ending impunity for attacks against them, is a priority for safeguarding freedom of expression. The forum said that a free expression of journalists is essential to ensure the public’s right to know, so that governments and institutions can be held accountable.
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