Free press supporters rejoiced on November 6, 2020 as the Delhi-based freelance journalist finally walked out of jail 15 days after the Allahabad High court granted him bail.

Netizens on Twitter, including the journalist himself jumped for joy on his release. Back in control of his social media accounts, Kanojia thanked the court as well as his supporters for standing by his family through difficult times.

सर्वप्रथम न्यायालय का धन्यवाद उसके साथ-साथ सुरंगमा जी, नित्या मैम, पवन जी @svaradarajan जी, @puneetsinghlive और अन्य जितने भी लोगों ने समर्थन दिया और मेरे परिवार के साथ खड़े रहे।
जय भीम जय संविधान https://t.co/6VyU85BiaM

— Prashant Kanojia (@PJkanojia) November 6, 2020

Very good news! At least 15 days after being granted bail by Allahabad High Court, @PJkanojia has walked out of jail. Now for the quashing of this unjust case! https://t.co/Bpe9Jhp6S6

— geeta seshu (@geetaseshu) November 6, 2020

The journalist was originally granted bail on October 22 after two months of arrest for allegedly morphing and tweeting a photograph of the Ayodhya Ram temple originally posted by a Hindu Army member Sushil Tiwari. Sub-inspector Dinesh Kumar Shukla, who lodged a complaint against the journalist, wrote that Kanojia posted the picture on August 17 to “malign Tiwari’s image” and ensue discord among various communities.

Accordingly, he was arrested by Lucknow’s Hazratganj police on August 18 for various charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act. Kanojia rejected the allegations and claimed he was implicated for ulterior reasons.

Throughout the drawn-out battle with the administration, Konajia’s wife and former journalist Jagisha Arora played a pivotal role breathing life into the movement for his release. Shortly after his arrest, Arora notified the media about police personnel wearing “civilian clothes” who entered their house and arrested her husband.

She recounted how the police had told her “Tweet ka maamla hai. Bohot tweet kiye hain tumney, upar sey orders aaye hain humein, follow toh karna padega.”  (It’s about your tweets. You have tweeted a lot. We have received orders from above, we have to follow them.) Her love and dedication to her companion’s release bore fruit on Friday for which Kanojia thanked her separately.

लव यू टू. https://t.co/cFLLKCN4bf

— Jagisha Arora (@jagishaarora) November 6, 2020

While the two still have to fight a legal battle, the duo are not new to facing defamation complaints lodged by the police. Earlier this year in April, Kanojia was booked for allegedly making objectionable comments on social media against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a defamation case against the journalist under the IT Act.

Similarly, in 2019, Kanojia was arrested for making objectionable remarks against Adityanath on virtual platforms. At the time, the state government had arrested him stating that it was required “to send a message” against such provocative messages. However, the Supreme Court granted him bail by saying that Right to Liberty is a fundamental right and that “a person can’t spend 11 days in jail.” 

As had happened last year, journalists, activists and proponents of press freedom continue to support Kanojia for exercising his right to speech. As the day for his hearing approaches, more and more people declared their solidarity with the independent journalist.

Many many congratulations बड़े भाई. आप संघर्ष करो हम आपके साथ हैं.
Jai Bhim Jai Gadge#PrashantKanojia@PJkanojia

— Manish Chaudhary (@ManishC31934167) November 7, 2020

#जयभीम के साथ स्वागत कीजिए Prashant Kanojia का, आज प्रशांत की रिहाई सभी संविधान प्रेमियों की जीत है. एक ट्वीट के लिए जिस तरह से प्रशांत को टारगेट किया गया, यह सब याद रखा जाएगा.

फिलहाल तो उत्सव और उमंग का वक्त है, एक सैल्यूट Jagisha Arora को भी…

जय भीम, जय संविधान

— Ashwini kumar (@AshwiniHaldia) November 6, 2020

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Is criticising BJP leaders a crime?

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Prashant Kanojia will hopefully be a free man today. While thousands of social media users openly use platforms like Twitter and Facebook to issue rape and death threats to women and minorities, and create communal divisions, almost none are taken to task by the government authorities. Journalists and activists however, are sitting ducks, to be hunted for reporting, airing a political opinion, or even just reposting someone else’s material. That retweets, or even book marking ‘likes’ is not an endorsement is overlooked.

Kanojia has now spent over two months in an Uttar Pradesh jail after he was arrested on August 18. An FIR was filed against him in Lucknow for allegedly “morphing” a social media post made by the member of an outfit called the Hindu Army, and then tweeting it. His wife Jagisha Arora, who had sustained the campaign for his release announced that finally, three months after the UP police arrested him from the couple’s home in Delhi, he has been granted bail. 

प्रशांत को हाई कोर्ट से जमानत मिल गई है. मेरा न्यायपालिका और बाबा साहेब के संविधान पर विश्वास रंग लाया. मैं सभी लोगों का शुक्रिया अदा करना चाहती हूं जो मेरी लड़ाई में मेरे साथी बने. सबको शुक्रिया.@PJkanojia लव यू pic.twitter.com/pDAj9vVnQC

— Jagisha Arora (@jagishaarora) October 21, 2020

Jagisha has been the strongest support for Prashant, who she often addresses as ‘comrade’, and has made sure his arrest was not forgotten and that he got support from civil society and the media fraternity. She shared her happiness too: “I felt that I haven’t met you in two years… Love became my strength… I can’t  wait to meet you… give you a hug… to tell you how much i missed you…”

मुझे ऐसा लगा मैं तुमसे दो साल से नहीं मिली. प्रशांत दो महीने दो साल की तरह गुजरे है. तुमसे मोहब्बत ही मेरी ताकत बनी. अब इंतेज़ार नहीं हो रहा तुमसे मिलने का. तुम्हें देखकर ही गले लगाना है फिर तुमसे कहना है कि तुम्हें इतना याद किया कि क्या कहूं? मैं तुमसे मिलने को तड़प रही हूं. pic.twitter.com/0I6yiK1RDe

— Jagisha Arora (@jagishaarora) October 21, 2020

Prashant Kanojia was not arrested for his reporting, nor for even sharing his own opinion that may have offended fragile political egos. He was arrested and put behind bars for allegedly sharing a “morphed” social media post made by a member of an outfit called the Hindu Army. The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court Wednesday granted bail to the freelance journalist. A bench of Justice A R Masoodi passed the order on the bail plea. Kanojia had pleaded that he was innocent and was implicated due to ulterior reasons.

The journalist has faced action by Uttar Pradesh Police even before this most recent arrest. He lives in Delhi, the last FIR was filed against him in The FIR against him was registered here at the Hazratganj Police Station on August 17 on the basis of a complaint by sub-inspector Dinesh Kumar Shukla. Reportedly, a Facebook post by Hindu Army’s Sushil Tiwari was morphed, and was tweeted by Kanojia “with intention to malign” Tiwari’s fame. The FIR stated: “On August 17, it was seen that Prashant Kanojia through his twitter handle (@Pjkanojia) had uploaded an indecent post related to Ram temple stating that it was done on orders of Tiwari.” The post was uploaded to “malign Tiwari’s image”, said the sub-inspector in his complaint, adding that “such posts can disturb peace”. The case against Kanojia was lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including section 420 and those of the Information Technology Act, stated a news report in Hindustan Times. During the last hearing, the High Court had granted four weeks’ time to the state government to file its reply in the bail plea moved by the journalist.

UP Police’s Prashant Kanojia Diary 

August 2020:  Arrested by UP police for “some tweets”.

At the time of his arrest, it was reported that the policeman said ‘ they have orders from ‘above’.  His wife had told the media that when the UP police came to their house to arrest him, almost all the police personnel were “wearing civilian clothes, only one cop was in police uniform. They arrested Prashant and said, ‘Tweet ka maamla hai.’ When I asked them which tweet are they talking about, they said, ‘Bohot tweet kiye hain tumney, upar sey orders aaye hain humein, follow toh karna padega’.”  (Translation: It’s about tweets, you have tweeted a lot, the orders have come from above, we have to follow them.)

पत्रकार प्रशांत कनौजिया को यूपी पुलिस ने उनके दिल्ली वाले आवास से गिरफ्तार किया.

— Jagisha Arora (@jagishaarora) August 18, 2020

April 2020: Booked for ‘defamatory’ content against PM Modi and CM Adityanath

Prashant Kanojia, was booked for allegedly making objectionable remarks on social media against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, reported The Times of India. Uttar Pradesh based Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shashank Shekhar Singh, son of SP MLC Ajit Singh, had complained to the Aashiana police, after which the cops registered a case against Kanojia. The FIR was registered on the charges of defamation, printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory, circulating mischievous comments and obscenity under the Information and Technology Act, said Beenu Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cantonment. TOI reported that Singh in his FIR stated, “On Sunday night, I was browsing tweets on coronavirus. Suddenly, I noticed the profile of one Prashant Kanojia. Kanojia had posted a photo of the prime minister and made a derogatory comment.” In one tweet, Kanojia had allegedly posted a photo of the PM along with a derogatory statement and in another tweet, he had allegedly posted objectionable remarks against CM Adityanath.

June 2019 Arrested for allegedly posting ‘objectionable remarks’ against UP CM  

The Supreme Court ordered immediate release of journalist Prashant Kanojia, who was arrested for allegedly posting ‘objectionable remarks’ against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on social media. He was the granted bail on the orders of the Supreme Court.  A vacation bench, comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi, said Right to Liberty, a fundamental right, is non-negotiable, as it granted bail. The UP Government had submitted through Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee that arrest was necessary “to send a message” that provocative tweets cannot be tolerated. However the Supreme Court stated: “Normally we don’t entertain these types of petitions. But a person can’t spend 11 days in jail.”  The media fraternity had held protests against  Prashant Kanojia’s arrest . 

Related: 

Delhi-based Journalist Prashant Kanojia arrested by UP police for “some tweets”

The New ‘Emergency’!

Rajasthan PUCL defends free speech of local journalists

Muslim journalist, 3 others arrested near Hathras, booked under sedition law 

Is criticising BJP leaders a crime?

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Prashant Kanojia was arrested for allegedly tweeting a “morphed” social media post made by a member of an outfit called the Hindu Army. The Allahabad High Court Wednesday granted bail to freelance journalist Prashant Kanojia, LiveLaw reported.

Kanojia was arrested from his east Delhi residence by Uttar Pradesh Police on August 18 after an FIR was filed against him in Lucknow.  According to the FIR, filed on the basis of a complaint by sub-inspector Dinesh Kumar Shukla, a Facebook post by Hindu Army’s Sushil Tiwari was morphed, and was tweeted by Kanojia “with intention to malign” Tiwari’s fame.

The post Allahabad HC grants bail to journalist Prashant Kanojia appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Uttar Pradesh Police has, once again arrested Delhi-based journalist Prashant Kanojia, for the second time this year, allegedly over his social media posts. He was arrested on Tuesday, August 18, from his south Delhi residence and taken to the local police station. Kanojia will reportedly be taken to Lucknow for further investigation “in connection with some tweets”. After a few journalists broke the news on social media, Prashant Kanojia confirmed it with a retweet.

पत्रकार प्रशांत कनौजिया को यूपी पुलिस ने उनके दिल्ली वाले आवास से गिरफ्तार किया

— Punit Kumar Singh (@puneetsinghlive) August 18, 2020

Soon, his wife Jagisha Arora, also a journalist, also confirmed it.  

पत्रकार प्रशांत कनौजिया को यूपी पुलिस ने उनके दिल्ली वाले आवास से गिरफ्तार किया.

— Jagisha Arora (@jagishaarora) August 18, 2020

She told The Wire that the UP police came to their house on Tuesday afternoon to arrest him. She told the news portal that, almost all the police personnel were “wearing civil clothes, only one cop was in police uniform. They arrested Prashant and said, ‘Tweet ka maamla hai.’ When I asked them which tweet are they talking about, they said, ‘Bohot tweet kiye hain tumney, upar sey orders aaye hain humein, follow toh karna padega’.”  (Translation: It’s about tweets, you have tweeted a lot, the orders have come from above, we have to follow them.)

In April this year, Kanojia was booked for allegedly making some ‘objectionable remarks’ against the Prime Minister, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.  That complaint had been made by Shashank Shekhar Singh, a BJP leader, and a FIR was registered on the charges of defamation, printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory, circulating mischievous comments and obscenity under the Information and Technology Act. In 2019, he was arrested by the Lucknow police for allegedly making objectionable posts against CM Adityanath. He was released on bail by the Supreme Court after protests were  held against his arrest in various parts of the country. 

After his arrest for the second time this year, many voices have risen on social media, in his support, and against the ongoing attacks, and targeting on journalists across the country, and in particular in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. 

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad said Bahujan journalist Kanojia’s arrest was a “testimony to the dictatorial attitude of the Uttar Pradesh government. Now the government is suffering due to people reading and writing. We are constantly surrounded by times of emergency,”. He has demanded that the  “immediate release” of Kanojia must be ensured. 

बहुजन पत्रकार @PJkanojia की गिरफ्तारी उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार के तानाशाह रवैए का प्रमाण है। अब लोगों के लिखने पढ़ने और आवाज उठाने से सरकार को तकलीफ होने लगी है। हम लगातार आपातकाल के दौर से घिरते जा रहे हैं। तत्काल प्रशांत कनौजिया की रिहाई सुनिश्चित की जाए। @lkopolice

— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) August 18, 2020

Scores of journalists, writers and activists have spoken out in Kanojia’s support and demanded his release. “No written orders or details were shared. He will be taken from Vasant Vihar to Lucknow, UP shortly #Release_Prashant_Kanojia,” posted writer Meena Kandasamy.

Bahujan journalist Prashant Kanojia has been arrested by the UP police from his residence at 1:30PM ‘in connection with a tweet’
No written orders or details were shared. He will be taken from Vasant Vihar to Lucknow, UP shortly #Release_Prashant_Kanojia

— meena kandasamy || இளவேனில் (@meenakandasamy) August 18, 2020

उत्तर प्रदेश पुलिस ने एक बार फिर @PJkanojia को हिरासत में लिया है. पुलिस ने “कई सारे ट्वीट्स” को वजह बताकर हिरासत में लिया. अभी ये स्पष्ट नहीं किया है कि वे कौनसे ट्वीट हैं.

— Sarvapriya Sangwan (@DrSarvapriya) August 18, 2020

Lucknow Police has arrested @PJkanojia from his Delhi residence. It’s clear path towards cops dictatorship. Kindly inform the cause behind this arresting without any prior information and release him soon, @lkopolice.

— Suraj Kumar Bauddh (@SurajKrBauddh) August 18, 2020

Journalist @PJkanojia reportedly detained from his Delhi home by a team of UP police from Lucknow for his alleged inflammatory tweet. FIR registered at Hazratganj Kotwali in Lucknow on August 17. https://t.co/2rKxgIK6X9

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) August 18, 2020

The Wire states that according to their sources this time “Kanojia has been arrested in relation to a tweet in which he had shared a morphed image of a poster with the name of Sushil Tiwari of the Hindu Army on it.” However, his wife told The Wire that Kanojia never posted the tweets he has purportedly been arrested for and said that the screenshot has been morphed. “You can check his Twitter, you will not find the tweet anywhere,” she told The Wire. 

The FIR against Kanojia is dated August 17, and was filed by one Dinesh Kumar Shukla. Kanojia has been booked under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, as well as various sections of the Indian Penal Code. They include: Sections are 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc), 153B (assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 500 (defamation), 500 (1)(B) (likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility), and 505(2) ( promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes).

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Journalism is a hazardous profession in Uttar Pradesh

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When journalists are arrested on the basis of their social media posts, it is imperative to ask – what is it about social media that prompts this degree of punitive action? In her report, How India’s Media Landscape Changed Over Five Years, Sevanti Ninan analyses how widespread emergence of multiple media platforms including social media is redefining the role of the media in politics and government, and the relationship between the two. Below is an abdridged version of her report which appeared in The India Forum. 

Image courtesy: The India Forum

The five-year period of 2014-2019 has seen such an explosion of media creation and media use in India that the answer to the question, who is the media, has become, literally, everybody.

Many developments that contributed to this end: the explosion of internet connectivity and cheap smartphones in small town and rural India, leading to growing numbers online and on social media. With 500 million Indians on the Internet by the end of 2018 (a growth of 65% over 2016), the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook in February 2014 and its accelerated growth in India thereafter has meant that the messaging app now has over 200 million users in India. The 65% growth is partly explained by the launch of Reliance Jio in September 2016, the 4G telecom service of Reliance Industries which was free for six months.

[…]

Access to media tools—a cheap smartphone with a camera, an online app on which you can edit your video — has become a marker of changing demography.

Changing demography has also led to changing the Indian psyche where, now, if a coaching centre catches fire, passers-by now stop and shoot a video. When people lynch or rape they also shoot a video to record it.

De-legitimising mainstream media
In the five years of the Modi-I regime, party and government operated on a simple formula: delegitimise existing media and create your own channels of communication with the voter and citizen.

Narendra Modi was elected in May 2014. In June Scroll.in reported that the Prime Minister had asked both senior bureaucrats and cabinet colleagues to refrain from speaking with journalists. When surveyed on whether the government had really clammed up, journalists covering government said cabinet notes and cabinet meeting agendas were no longer available, nor were inter-ministerial exchanges coming out.

[…]

Prime Minister Modi also started a monthly radio programme, “Mann Ki Baat” on All India Radio, and the programme quickly began to drive stories in the press and on television.

The notion that the government needs mainstream media was made to stand on its head. It was the other way around. With major media houses given to holding sponsored events every year as a source of revenue, they needed the Prime Minister and ministers to speak at their events. If you displeased the government, participation was withdrawn.

[…]

A more drastic instance of the government leaning on a major newspaper came when the editor of the Hindustan Times resigned, in September 2017, just 14 months after joining the paper. The Hindustan Times had been running a “Hate Tracker” since July, which it described as “a national database on crimes in the name of religion, caste, race”. After the editor’s exit it was taken down.

Increased self-censorship
Over these five years, more than any time in the past, media houses in India (TV, print and online) discovered the virtues of self-censorship. Published news items disappeared from websites. TV channels dropped interviews or stories done by their correspondents. NDTV was exposed as a channel that had practised internal censorship during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime as well. The entertainment channel Star Plus decide not to air a comedy act that mimicked Prime Minister Modi.

The resignation of the ABP anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai, according to a piece by him in The Wire.in, followed explicit instructions from the proprietor (presumably Arup Sarkar though Bajpai did not name him) to not mention Prime Minister Modi in his show “Masterstroke” or to even carry any pictures of him. Bajpai referred to one edition of the show which reported on farmers being forced to part with their land for an Adani power project.

[…]

July 2017 saw the saga of the Economic and Political Weekly editor Paranjoy Guha Thakurta quitting his job after the Board of the Sameeksha Trust, which publishes the journal, asked for the takedown of a published investigation relating to Adani Power. More self-censorship. The company had sent a legal notice to EPW. Did any other publication try to see if this investigation had any merit and do a follow-up? No.

[…]

The de-legitimisation of mainstream media has been achieved by communicating directly with citizens and voters, by leaning on private sector media outlets in ways that lead to increasing self-censorship, and by giving interviews to only those journalists with whom the prime minister is comfortable. While not addressing a single press conference during his tenure, in the final weeks before the elections he gave several interviews, at least one of which was shown up to be pre-scripted.

Murder, attacks, trolling, co-option, fake news
De-legitimisation is also achieved by threats and violence. Gauri Lankesh was murdered in September 2017 for being a critic of right wing extremism, an unprecedented act of silencing, the chilling effect of which still endures. Scroll.in correspondent Malini Subramaniam’s house was attacked in Jagdalpur in 2016, a petrol bomb was hurled at the house of Patricia Mukhim, the Shillong Times editor, last year.

[…]

The ultimate de-legitimisation of the media as an institution however comes from co-option by the ruling establishment. During the first tenure of the NDA government led by the BJP this has been particularly true of television, with a host of channels—Zee News, India TV, Republic TV, Times Now, among others—turning openly partisan. There are enough examples of this on YouTube to prove the point.

[…]

Finally fake news videos about journalists are painstaking constructed and circulated, presumably by the BJP’s IT cell army, using archival footage from channels such as NDTV. The one on Tiranga TV’s Barkha Dutt, for instance, goes to some trouble to pull out footage related to all the controversies associated with Dutt’s coverage, going back to the Kargil war and the Pandit exodus in Kashmir, to try and establish her anti-national record over decades.

All of this energetic media management is unprecedented.

The BJP creates its own media
Enormous energy has gone into creating media to suit the party’s purpose. First in order to win the 2014 election, then re-election in 2019 and in-between a number of state elections. Also, in order to shape the media narrative for the NDA government.

[…]

The 2019 campaign was powered by an indefatigable media machine described in this Time Magazinereport on how Whatsapp was fuelling fake news ahead of the elections.

[…]

There was also the more audacious experiment with NaMo TV launched on 31st March 2019, just days before the polling schedule got under way. It was a YouTube channel which simply telecast repeats of Modi’s rallies and speeches 24×7, was carried on DTH platforms and defied the regulation that cable and satellite platforms could only carry licensed channels. Complaints to the Election Commission from other parties got nowhere, and NaMo TV promoted Modi through every phase of polling, cocking a snook at the Model Code of Conduct of the Election Commission, which could not decide whether it was a violation or not.

The rise of independent alternative media
The same five-year period which has seen the changes described above has also seen a significant rise in independent media, most of it online, several offering specialized content.

There is enough fake news being generated to keep them all busy. On the day election results were announced, 23 May 2019, Nieman Lab pulled together information from various sources to put out a newsletter on fake news in the Indian elections. One assertion made was that more than a quarter of the content shared by the BJP and a fifth of the content shared by the Indian National Congress was junk news. This came from Oxford’s Project on Computational Propaganda which sampled and studied WhatsApp groups for visual content shared.

[…]

Given the altered landscape, where should the  pushback to the BJP’s media management juggernaut come from?

The first recognition has to be of a newly empowered citizenry that is generating its own media.  Beyond targeting them with aggressive tweets during the election, political parties and citizenry have to strategise their communication for the mobile phone connected generation of all economic strata. Schools and colleges need to offer more media literacy.

Civil society and the more thoughtful sections of  English and regional media need to lend more heft to efforts to counter fake news. Do we have the laws to deal with this phenomenon?  If courts cases are being filed by individuals under horrific attack what becomes of them?  Do they get support from the legal community and their media compatriots?

More people need to simply recognize the much enlarged landscape that the media has become.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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New Delhi: Freelance Journalist Prashant Kanojia, who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police for “defaming” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, must immediately be released on bail, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.

Even though the UP Government submitted through Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee that arrest was necessary “to send a message” that provocative tweets cannot be tolerated, the bench rejected it, choosing to bat for personal liberty.
 
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition by Mr Kanojia’s wife, challenging his arrest on Saturday. “Normally we don’t entertain these types of petitions. But a person can’t spend 11 days in jail,” the Supreme Court said.
 
A total of five people, including Mr Kanojia, were arrested in two days on charges of posting allegedly objectionable content about the Chief Minister. The arrests over the weekend sparked a huge debate on social media on freedom of expression in the country, with the Editors Guild of India terming the journalists’ arrests “high-handed and arbitrary”. The editors’ body had said it amounted to “authoritarian misuse of laws”.
 
“It is made clear this order is not construed as an approval of tweets,” the Supreme Court said, while hearing Jagisha Arora’s petition which was filed on Monday.
 
A vacation bench, comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi, said Right to Liberty, a fundamental right, is non-negotiable as it granted bail.
 
“We may disapprove these tweets but we disapprove the denial of liberty,” the top court said.
 
“I believe in Constitution. I have fought this case. I am happy,” a visibly tired Jagisha Arora told reporters outside the Supreme Court, soon after the hearing.
 
Justice Banerjee asked how an arrest could be made over tweets, to which the public prosecutor replied that Kanojia had made provocative tweets against gods and religion on previous occasions and therefore offence of public mischief under Section 505 of IPC was added in the list of charges.
 
Expressing dissatisfaction over the prosecutor’s remarks, the bench said that the Magistrate’s order of remanding Kanojia till June 22 was “not appropriate”.
 
Kanojia was arrested Saturday last week for allegedly uploading a video on Twitter in which a woman is heard making some claims about Yogi Adityanath. An FIR was lodged against Kanojia at Lucknow’s Hazratganj police station under Sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 500 (defamation) of the IPC, and Section 67 of IT Act (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) on a complaint filed by Sub-Inspector Vikas Kumar.
 
The head of a Noida-based news channel that had broadcast the video shared by Kanojia was arrested, along with one of the editors of the channel. A fourth person named Raju Singh Yadav was arrested Monday morning for allegedly uploading morphed photographs of the CM and the Kanpur-based woman on Facebook.
 
Arora’s petition filed through Advocate Shadan Farasat has pointed out the following illegalities in the arrest:
 

• Criminal defamation under Section 500 IPC is a non-cognizable offence, for which action can be taken only on a private complaint filed before the Magistrate by the aggrieved person. 
• Section 66 of the IT Act, the other provision mentioned in the FIR, has no relevance here, as it pertains to “dishonestly/fraudulenty damaging a computer system”. 
• The arrest was made by police men in plain civil clothes, without serving an arrest memo, and without telling his wife the reasons for arrest and therefore violated the mandatory procedure before arrest laid down by SC in D K Basu case. 
• There was no transit remand obtained by UP Police for taking Kanojia from Delhi. He was not produced before the local Magistrate before taking him out of State. 
• The offences are in any case bailable and therefore police was bound to release him as per Section 436 CrPC. The continued detention is therefore illegal.

 
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Prashant Kanojia’s illegal arrest by UP police is telling of a govt bent on gag orders
 

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New Delhi: When PrashantKanoija, a journalist based in Delhi put out a tweet mocking the UP CM Yogi Adityanath, it may have been sarcastic, funny or even with the intention of trolling or mocking. The subsequent police action against him was anything but.
 
The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested him in Delhi after a case was filed against him on Saturday for comments made about Chief Minister Adityanath on social media.
 
A first information report was registered against Kanojia by a sub-inspector at Hazratganj police station on Friday night alleging that the accused made comments “maligning the image of the chief minister”. The case was filed under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, which relates to punishment for defamation, and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, which refers to computer-related offences.
 
A press statement released by the police on Saturday additionally mentioned Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, which relates to publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form, and Section 505 of the IPC, which penalises statements conducing to public mischief.
 
PrashantKanojia’s wife has moved the Supreme Court’s vacation bench comprising of Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogiwhich will hear on Tuesday the habeas corpus petition filed by advocate on record ShadanFarasat.
 
The case was mentioned on Monday in the court by senior advocate NityaRamakrishnan before the vacation bench and the bench shall hear the arguments at length on Tuesday.
 
Journalists familiar with Kanojia pointed to a tweet, in which a woman is seen claiming to want to marry Adityanath, as the one that the Uttar Pradesh Police had taken objection to. In the video that Kanojia shared, a woman is seen speaking to reporters outside the chief minister’s office claiming that she had been talking to Adityanath over video chat and had sent a marriage proposal to him.

 
Almost all provisions of the CrPc and the IPC were reportedly violated in the arrest of Kanojia.The FIR itself is legally untenable. Both Section 66 of the Information Technologies Act and Section 500 of the IPC are inapplicable to the facts of the present case.
 
Action for criminal defamation can be taken only on a private complaint filed before a Magistrate. As per Section 41 CrPC, arrest without warrant can be made only in relation to cognizable offences.
 
A report by Live Law has recounted in detail how Kanojia’s arrest by the UP police was illegal in every way.
 
Kanojia was a former journalist at The Wire Hindi. “The fact that cops sent PrashantKanojia to jail till Monday so he will have to move the courts to come out proves the idea is to intimidate and gag not just the media but the wider public,” SiddharthVardarajan, the founding editor of The Wire, said on Sunday.

 
Senior Superintendent of Police, Lucknow, KalanidhiNaithani said Kanojia had made objectionable comments on social media and spread rumours. Naithani said that police had arrested Kanojia on the basis of evidence, and that he had confessed to the crime. Confession made by accused in police custody has no evidentiary value and it is being seen a UP police’s attempt at swaying the public opinion.
 
IO Mishra, when asked whether the statement of the woman in the video had been recorded, said: “The case has been lodged against PrashantKanojia for making objectionable comments, so there is no need to record the statement of the woman whose video the accused had uploaded.”
 
The woman in the video, however, claimed a police team had visited her home on Saturday morning and recorded her statement. “I told police officials what I was telling everyone so far,” she said on Saturday evening.
 
Two more journalists from a TV channel were also arrested. Noida Police on Saturday arrested Ishita Singh, head of Nation Live, the local channel that aired the footage of the woman, and one of its editors, AnujShukla, for allegedly propagating defamatory content.
 
An FIR has been registered under IPC Sections 505(1) (publication or circulation of statement, rumour or report with intent to incite), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) and 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot) at Noida Phase 3 police station, an officer said.
 
Police said the content was not verified before it was broadcast and could have affected law and order. Police also claimed they had found that the channel did not have a licence to operate as a news channel, and that a case of cheating and fraud too, has been registered at Phase 3 police station against the accused.
 
In the case of PrashantKanojia, Ishika Singh and AnujShukla, UP DGP O P Singh said, “All three accused have been sent to judicial custody.”
 
Amidst these arrests, another case was lodged in Fatehpur district on Saturday night against 30-year-old Raju Singh Yadav who allegedly uploaded on his Facebook account morphed photographs of the CM and the Kanpur-based woman at the centre of the video row.
 
Govind Singh, officiating Station Officer of Asothar police station in Fatehpur, said the complaint was lodged by ‘social worker’ Gaurav Singh who belongs to Raju’s village and is Raju’s ‘friend’ on Facebook.
 
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the petition filed by the wife of journalist PrashantKanojia challenging his arrest by UP police for objectionable tweets against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
 
Kanojia’s wife JagishaArora said, “We don’t know the woman in the video. It’s sarcasm and that’s not a crime… Will the police arrest everyone who questions the government? I stand by his right to post anything on social media.”
 
According to Jagisha, four people in civilian dress came to their house in Vinod Nagar, near Akshardham, and identified themselves as Uttar Pradesh police. However, the cops could not furnish an arrest warrant when Prashant asked for the same, Jagisha said.
 
Prashant’s colleagues have questioned UP police’s way of action. “Why didn’t UP police accompany Delhi Police? At least they should have furnished arrest warrant to the family. If an FIR was already filed, they need not come in civilian dress. They should have come in uniform and informed the family about the same,” his colleagues complained.
 
“In November last, KishorechandraWangkhem, an anchor-editor with a Manipur channel ISTV, was arrested for a video post criticising the BJP-led government and Chief Minister Biren Singh. After a court let him off, he was booked again, under the National Security Act, in December. It fell to his wife to take up cudgels in defence of not only her husband but also freedom of expression. While Wangkhem’s video may have been provocative and berated the chief minister, there was nothing in it that endangered national security or public order to justify his being arrested under the draconian NSA,” ShastriRamachandaran wrote in Outlook.
 
“It is not as if journalists outside BJP turf are safe. Even those with a soft spot for the BJP risk facing police action and political persecution if they take the liberty of tilting at the powers that be. AbhijitIyer-Mitra spent 43 days in jail following his arrest on October 23 for his admittedly “distasteful remarks” in tweets against the Konarak Sun Temple and Puri’sJagannath temple; and taunts that the rossogolla was of Bengali, and not Odiya, origin. The BJD’s hounding of Mitra shows that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, after four terms in office, is perhaps still insecure and, therefore, intolerant of journalists who cannot be made to fall in line,” he added.
“There are many such cases, including the unrelenting persecution by successive regimes, for instance, of Telugu writer and poet VaravaraRao who is now targeted as an ‘Urban Naxalite,’” he wrote.
 
Condemning the arrests of three journalists over alleged objectionable content related to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, the Editors Guild of India on Sunday described the police action as authoritarian misuse of laws.

 
The media associations took out a protest march against the arrest of Kanojia and other journalists on Monday from Press Club to Parliament.

 
“We, the undersigned Media Organisations, express our collective outrage and shock at the manner in which freelance journalist PrashantKanojia, as well as Ishita Singh and AnujShukla, editor and head of the Nation Live TV channel have been arrested by UP Police,” Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC), Press Club of India (PCI), South Asian Women in the Media (SAWM, India), Press Association said in a joint statement.
 
“The action taken by the UP Police against these three journalists is a clear case of administrative overreach and excessive in proportion by way of application of law. As media-persons, it is our firm belief that journalists ought to conduct themselves responsibly, yet at the same time, we feel that criminal provisions of the defamation law should be taken off the statute books, given their repeated use against journalists and others,” they said in the statement. 
 
The Network For Women In Media issued a statement demanding the immediate release of three journalists, meanwhile #FreePrashantNow is trending on Twitter.
 
Full text of the statement:
 
NWMI Demands Immediate Release of PrashantKanojia, Ishita Singh and AnujShukla
 
The Network of Women in Media, India condemns the arrest of PrashantKanojia, Ishita Singh and AnujShukla.
 
PrashantKanojia is an independent journalist, arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police for allegedly tweeting critical posts against Yogi Adityanath, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. The police have claimed that the tweets ‘malign the image’ of Adityanath.
 
On June 8, 2019, Prashant was picked up from his house in Delhi by police in plain clothes and taken to Lucknow. He was initially charged under Section 500 and Section 66 of the IT Act. No warrant was presented at this time. Later, more charges were added.
 
UP police also arrested Ishita Singh, head of Nation Live, a local channel and one of its editor AnujShukla, for airing the footage of a woman making some claims about Yogi Adityanath, and allegedly propagating defamatory content.
 
The police issued a warning in a press release the same evening asking people not ‘to write things on social media that disturb the law and order.’
 
The fact that the three were picked up on a weekend when courts are shut and the procedure to get bail becomes difficult, is a clear indicator that the police’s intention is to harass him further, thereby denying him access to justice. 
 
The above arrests are a serious clampdown on not just his fundamental rights but also the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and expression. It is also an indicator that the UP government is intolerant of dissent and selective in addressing crimes.
 
The arrests of the three journalists once again raises major concerns over the blatant subversion of the system of law enforcement and selective use of laws despite the fact that press freedom has been recognised as part of freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution. Journalists are increasingly becoming victims of arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions and harassment.
 
It also demonstrates the lack of political will to create a climate for free expression and tolerance of dissenting views. This is a blatant attempt to promote self-censorship, as it could act as a deterrent to journalists from speaking truth to power.
 
We demand:
 
Immediate release of PrashantKanojia, Ishita Singh and AnujShukla 
Dropping of all charges against them
A credible investigation into the misuse of laws against journalists

 
 

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