Courtesy: Kashmir Times

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On March 23, the anniversary of the day the Emergency was lifted, Anuradha Bhasin, the Executive Editor of Kashmir Times delivered the 40th JP Memorial Lecture. The event was organized by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an organisation under the aegis of Jaya Prakash Narayan himself.

It is noteworthy that Bhasin has been hounded by the ruling regime, only because she has been a vociferous advocate of press freedom and has been demanding basic human rights for the people of Kashmir in wake of the abrogation of Article 370. Bhasin had moved Supreme Court with a plea seeking restoration of the internet, following a virtual communications blackout in the region. Her petition argued the internet is essential for the modern press, and that by shutting it down, the authorities forced the print media to come to “a grinding halt.” The court, in its judgment, reiterated that freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 19 of India’s Constitution extended to the internet. This was a significant victory, but it also firmly placed Bhasin in the regime’s crosshairs. In October 2020, her Wazarat Road home was ransacked.

Bhasin’s lecture was aptly titled Media, Democracy & Democratic Institutions: Challenges of Our Times.

Tracing the history of independent India, Bhasin said, “Armed with a liberal Constitution, India embarked on the journey of democracy soon after independence. It was neither an easy journey, nor one that indicates a linear graph. There were disruptions, slowdowns and even reversals but negotiating the many inherent problems of India’s social, political and economic landscape and challenges posed by many phases during this journey, India by and large stayed on course; and the world looked up to India. Despite its many shortcomings and imperfections, it stood out as a beacon of light for the many aspiring democracies of the third-world.”

She also spoke about the Emergency period saying, “The full-frontal attack on democracy, however, came during Indira Gandhi’s reign known for its autocracy and the dark days of Emergency. But a reversal of the amendments after her electoral rout two years later revived life back into India’s constitutional democracy.”

After this Bhasin went on to describe India’s descent into majoritarianism. “From 2014, we have witnessed a gradual, unannounced but continuous and systemic process of dismantling of the mechanisms put in place by Indian constitution that held its executive accountable to the people. The three strands of accountability that operate vertically through adult franchise and parliament, horizontally through institutions and ombudsman like the judiciary and diagonally through media, academia and civil society are under severe stress today,” said Bhasin.

Bhasin minced no words in calling out the regime for disempowering institutions like the Election Commission. She said, “Elections continue to be held giving the semblance of the basic fundamental of any democracy – adult franchise – but the rules of the game have been changed by politicizing the institution of the Election Commission, forbidding campaign finance transparency through election bonds and concerns have also been raised about the fairness of the Electronic Voting Machines, not to forget the use of data stolen by social media sites and sold to several political parties primarily the BJP, as indicated by the Cambridge Analytica scam. The lack of transparency and accountability promoting uneven funding punctures the promise of “free and fair elections” which is the basic minimum expected of any democracy.”

She also called out the BJP for its “constant diatribe against universities, student unions, academia, intelligentsia and the media through a consistent and systemic vilification campaign, amplified by propagandist machinery.”

Drawing a distinction between the 1975 Emergency and the current state of the nation, Bhasin said, “Unlike Indira Gandhi’s imposition of Emergency in 1975, BJP’s mode of operation since 2014 is subtle but systemic. The groundwork was prepared during the first tenure of this government from 2014 by keeping structures on which constitutional democracy functions alive but undermined and compromised. This ensured institutional decay that resulted in disappearance of all levels and hierarchies of accountability.”

The entire text of the lecture may be read here:

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The Network of Women in Media, India, (NWMI) has strongly condemned the continued targeting and harassment of Anuradha Bhasin, editor of Kashmir Times, one of the oldest English daily newspapers published in Jammu & Kashmir. “We stand in solidarity with her at this difficult time,” the NWMI, representing media women from across the country issued a statement of solidarity with Bhasin, after the Srinagar office of Kashmir Times newspaper was sealed by the Estate Department of the Jammu & Kashmir administration on Monday, October 19. As reported earlier the building of Kashmir Times is located in the city’s Press Enclave area, along with many other media houses, all of whom have been allotted spaces here for decames. The Kashmir Times has had its office here  since the early 1990s.   

Editor Anuradha Bhasin has described the action as “vendetta for speaking out” on her social media post, after the second official address allotted to her was ‘raided’ and ‘sealed’ by the Estates Department. She had stated on her social media that the office was locked up “without any due process of cancellation and eviction, same way as I was evicted from a flat in Jammu, where my belongings including valuables were handed over to “new allottee”. Vendetta for speaking out! No due process followed. How peevish!” 

The NWMI cited an Bhasin’s words that while the government has the right to evict an allottee, there are certain criteria and they have to follow due process. The Network has stated that “Bhasin has been critical of the Government of India’s tough policies in Kashmir, including the curbs on communication and muzzling of the press since August 2019, when two special laws pertaining to Jammu & Kashmir, Articles 370 and 35 A, were unilaterally revoked. As a journalist, she has been very vocal about several policies and actions of the central government, both in Kashmir and across India.”

Bhasin had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court last year demanding the restoration of modes of communication and the initiation of necessary steps for ensuring the free and safe movement of journalists and media personnel in the region. In response to the petition the Supreme Court had in January 2020 directed the administration in Jammu & Kashmir to review the curbs on communication every week and ensure free speech. 

According to NWMI, “It is important to note that in the wake of her petition Kashmir Times stopped receiving advertisements and has been experiencing severe financial strain. 

Bhasin has spoken out strongly against the new Media Policy of the Jammu & Kashmir administration, announced in June 2020, pointing out that “it straitjackets the local media. The attack on Kashmir Times is yet another example of how the administration seeks to punish independent media while favouring pliant media.” 

The statement added that “the deliberate targeting of Bhasin and other journalists in Kashmir through different means reveal the continuing intimidation of journalists in the erstwhile state (demoted to a union territory last year), who have been reporting under extremely difficult circumstances, despite severe restrictions on access to the Internet. This is totally unacceptable and condemnable.”

The NWMI has demanded that the authorities “stop harassing and thereby attempting to silence critical voices. Journalists, including Anuradha Bhasin, must be allowed to work freely, without being intimidated or under the constant threat of being summoned or booked under stringent laws that leave little room for the pursuit of justice.” The Network has  also demanded that “the office of Kashmir Times be restored to the organisation and that the  personal belongings of Anuradha Bhasin that were not handed over to her when she was unceremoniously evicted from the residential premises she was lawfully using be returned to her.”

Scores of journalists from across the country have stood up in solidarity with Bhasin, who had earlier told SabrangIndia that she will take legal recourse to address this. 

The Delhi Union of Journalists has also condemned the actions of the government which it states are “clearly aimed at stifling the free press.” The DUJ stated that this “comes on the heels of the arbitrary eviction of the Kashmir Times Editor Anuradha Bhasin from her residence. We note that Kashmir Times journalists were not permitted to take out their computers and other professional equipment before the eviction. Editor Bhasin has said that the eviction happened without due legal process and she will challenge it in court. 

The DUJ notes “with alarm the growing intimidation of the media across the country through various means” and has condemned “among others the violent attack on veteran journalist Kamal Shukla in Chhattisgarh on September 26, 2020 and the arrest of Ramesh Rath of Odisha Television on October 15,2020.”  It added that it was “dismayed at the increasing political nature of such actions and the impunity enjoyed by those who instigate, order or commit attacks.”

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Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin, got the shock of her life when she reached her government allotted flat at Wazarat Road on Sunday. A ransacking was underway; her belongings, including the antiques, rare books, and furniture collected by the bhasin family over the year were strewn around. And there was a man sprawled on her bed. Bhasin had rushed from her sisters home, where she has been staying during the lockdown, to this flat to witness the ransacking, even as the security men, who apparently accompanied Dr Imran Ganai, the man who was sprawled on her bed and who Anuradha identified as the brother of Shehnaz Ganai, a former MLC. Ganai was there, allegedly to get the flat emptied out and take over.

Anuradha posted this statement on her social media page :

“Today some goons, led by Dr Imran Ganai, brother of Shehnaz Ganai, former MLC, entered the government flat allotted to me at Wazarat Road (since 2000) and committed theft, stole my jewellery, silverware and other valuables in my house in connivance with Estates Deptt and some police personnel. Few cops in civvies were assisting them in the loot and they were present in every room and tried hiding their faces when I was clicking their photos. They finally ran away when SHO Pir Mitha Police station came to the area after we called him up. But even the latter was hesitant to lodge our complaint and kept taking the side of the trespassers, wrongly claiming that they are the authorised allottees of the house. My belongings were being dumped in one room and even breakable items were thrown around. We were shoved and pushed and had to fight back in self-defence. The SHO refused to even enter the house and see how they were looting and throwing my belongings which include my photographs and books. Much later when my lawyer came, he agreed to lodge a formal complaint at the police station and made a visit to the house to see things for himself. The police did not help in evicting him even as Dr Imran Ganai sprawled himself on my bed. In one room they had locked up four girls. We had to break open the door. One of them started crying when we broke open the door and ran away. In recent years, Shehnaz Ganai and her family members have been allotted more than five flats in the locality. On what basis? Were previous cases also of similar illegal trespassing and theft? Can Estates deptt allot quarters to people without serving show cause notice, informing the previous occupants/ allotees without even waiting for them to remove their belongings. The Estates Dept is promoting theft. Some officers of the police department are willingly turning a blind eye to it.” 

Anuradha Bhasin also shared the photos from the house when the men had forced their way in and had emptied out the drawers in her bedroom, and were ‘inspecting’ various rooms, even bathrooms, of the apartment. 

Speaking to SabrangIndia from Kashmir on Monday morning, even as she was preparing to follow up with the police complaints etc, Bhasin says she believes in the due process, but this was a shock as she had not even been given any notice regarding the flat’s allotment status. She was upset at the way the rare books, and artifacts, including the families silverware handed down generation, was strewn around the place. 

That apartment had first been allotted to her father, Ved Bhasin, who is still remembered as one of the most prominent journalists from the region. He is hailed as the ‘Grand Old Man’ of English journalism in Jammu and Kashmir, and had moved into the apartment when Anuradha was a year old. He eventually moved out once he built his own home in 1999, and as Anuradha was an established journalist by the house was allotted to her. 

However, somewhere along the lines, with the ever changing political scenarios and the way journalists in the then state, and now Union Territory, began to be treated she too came under the scanner for her work, and her activism.  While this raid appears to be unrelated it is not unlikely that this is yet another way to intimidate and harass one of the most prominent journalists of Jammu and Kashmir.

Journalist @AnuradhaBhasin_ alleged that some goons entered her flat & committed theft, stole her jewellery, silverware and other valuables in connivance with Estates Deptt, She alleged that Few cops in civvies were assisting them.#JournalismisNotACrime

— قاضی شبلی (@QaziShibli) October 4, 2020

Anuradha Bhasin,  had also approached the Supreme Court when after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution in 2019, had led the now Union Territory to be shrouded under a complete blackout. A year later, Bhasin told SabrangIndia  that the region’s economy was in shambles, there is no trust in the government, and Kashmir’s journalists continue to be caught between the guns of the militants on one side, the security forces on the other. She and her colleagues have continued to file news reports on the developments in the region. 

Now this alleged ransacking of her  apartment, that too by a man related to a former MLC, needs to be investigated in that light too. The official line is that the apartment has been allotted to Shehnaz Ganai. However Bhasin was not given an official notice to evict said sources.  Bhasin herself has stated that Shehnaz Ganai’s family members have also been allotted “more than five flats in the locality”, and has asked on what basis were those allotments made. To add insult to injury Bhasin, a well known journalist, was told she must only go to the police station accompanied by a man if she wanted to file the complaint.

Misogyny of the police. An SHO (Nayat Ali) of Peer mitha has just told me that I cannot come to the police station to make a complaint of theft without a man. @JmuKmrPolice

— Anuradha Bhasin (@AnuradhaBhasin_) October 4, 2020

Journalists in Jammu and Kashmir, are sometimes allotted small apartments in the Pres Enclave area and most end up using them as offices, staying close together. However this is now the first time Bhasin’s officially allotted flats have been targeted. The flat allotted in the early 1990s in the Press Enclave area too is now considered a disputed property. The Kashmir Times has had to spend its own money to carry out urgent repairs etc as the Estates Department told them the expenses will be reimbursed, which was not done. Way back in 2009, the Omar Abdullah government had even ordered demolition of the structure, reportedly for reconstruction but that too was challenged in court, as Bhasin had already carried out repairs etc. 

But this time, the man, who claims his sister has been allotted the flat is just trespassing, alleged Bhasin, who has filed a police complaint. She says the government Estates departments have never served her a notice, or even informed her in writing, nor given her any time to remove their personal belongings. It is yet to be seen what defence is offered by the authorities for the vandalism done by the men, inside the journalist’s home. 

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Anuradha Bhasin, the executive editor of Kashmir Times, filed simultaneously from Srinagar and Jammu, has moved the Supreme Court against the media gag in the former state following the unprecendented clampdown since August 4.

In her petition, Bhasin has sought directions from the Apex Court of India to “ensure that the state creates an enabling environment for journalists and all other media personnel” in all parts of Jammu and Kashmir so that they can practise their profession. The writ petition filed on Saturday, also asks for relaxation of the “debilitating restrictions imposed through the complete shutdown on internet and telecommunication services, and severe curbs on the movement of photo journalists and reporters”.

The petition may be read here:

Bhasin said that such restrictions were curbing the rights of journalists under the provisions of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India and the right to know the conditions of residents of Kashmir Valley.

“The absolute and complete internet and telecommunication shutdown, severe restrictions on mobility and sweeping curtailment on information sharing in the Kashmir valley, at a time when significant political and constitutional changes are being undertaken in Delhi to the status of J&K, is fuelling anxiety, panic, alarm, insecurity and fear among the residents of the Kashmir,” she said.

She states that the petition has been filed as information blackout set in motion is a direct and grave violation of the right of the people to know about the decisions that directly impact their lives and their future. Also, for the reason that the media cannot report on the aforesaid developments, and neither can the opinions of the residents of Kashmir be reported about.

The Central government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) abrogated Article 370, the only Constitutional provision that links Kashmir to India on August 5, Monday, 2019. The decision was taken in a secretive manner, while the Parliament session was on, without any consultation with the state assembly that had been dissolved in June, 2018. Since then, without any explanation, the state has been under President’s rule.

“The petitioner has not been able to print and publish the Kashmir edition of Kashmir Times as the complete and absolute restrictions on all communication services and movement has resulted in the imposition of blockade on media activities, including reporting and publishing on the situation in Kashmir,” said Bhasin in a press release issued on the matter.

Before this bill was brought in the Parliament, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was brought to a state of a complete shutdown, fear and panic. More than seven million Kashmiri people were incarcerated in their homes since August 4 as a Curfew was enforced, news media shut down, telephone line, cellular, internet, basic service were suspended. Reporters who travelled from Srinagar to Delhi, highlighted that neither the local media nor outside press was able to report from the area in view of a strict curfew and blockade of essential services. The communication blockade and strict restrictions on movement of journalists resulted in a virtual blackout, and media reporting and publishing is grievously impacted.

She also sought directions from the court to the Jammu and Kashmir government to relax restrictions on the free movement of journalists. to allow journalists to practice their profession and exercise their right to report freely on the situation prevailing in J&K after clampdown on entire state on August 4, 2019

Bhasin is represented in the Supreme Court by senior lawyers Vrinda Grover, Soutik Banerjee and Ratna Appnender and was filed through Sumika Hazarika, advocate on record.

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