The Kerala High Court has quashed a case of defamation against the editor of Malayala Manorama while observing that contemptuous nature of the news item, if it is connected with imputation of truth, which requires publication for the public good will not attract the offence of defamation under the Indian Penal Code.

The Managing Editor, Chief Editor and Printer of Daily Newspaper Malayala Manorama had filed the petition to quash a private complaint filed against them filed under section 500 of IPC. The section 499 of the IPC gives a detailed definition of the offence of defamation:

Whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person. 

There are a few exceptions to this definition as well; the first exception states, “Imputation of truth which public good requires to be made or published.—It is not defamation to impute anything which is true concerning any person, if it be for the public good that the imputation should be made or published. Whether or not it is for the public good is a question of fact”.

The single judge bench of Justice P. Somarajan, in the order dated November 13, observed that the news item in question reported the true version of an enquiry report submitted by the Vigilance Department recommending criminal action against the complainant.

The court held that this case comes under the first exception under section 499 of IPC (mentioned above),

It is the duty of the fourth estate to publish all news materials, especially having public importance and it is their further duty to comment on the news material with its pros and cons so as to enlighten the society to remain vigil on the matters of public importance…The fourth estate is not expected to shy away from the matters governing public importance, but it is their solemn duty to serve the society with the news item with its pros and cons so as to bring the society more functional and vigil.

The court further commented that the press “being one of the rostrums to address and comment on each and every matter governing public interest/ public importance in a democratic society, the news item published with necessary comments, though sometimes contemptuous, may not itself amount to a defamation”, unless it is lacking good faith and does not concern with public good.

The court also held, “The contemptuous nature of news item, if it is connected with imputation of truth, which requires publication for the public good will not attract the offence and there shall not be any misunderstanding with respect to the requirement to attract Section 499 IPC with the first exception therein.”

The court thus found that the publishing of the news item does not amount to defamation. The court noted that the complainant was in fact booked on criminal charges basis the enquiry report that was published in the news item and the complaint was filed only to “defeat the solemn function vested with the fourth estate and it will tell upon what is behind it” and deemed it as “abuse of process of court”. The proceedings were hence, quashed.

The order may be read here.

Related:

Journalist Prashant Kanojia walks out of jail, free speech supporters rejoice!
Journalism is a deadly vocation for those who question power
Srinagar: NIA raids human rights defenders, NGOs, media house in terror funding probe

The post Kerala HC: It is duty of press to comment on news to enlighten public appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post Press Freedom Under Severe Attack in Bastar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Press Freedom Under Severe Attack in Bastar 

The Chhattisgarh police recently detained three journalists- Siddharthya Roy, a journalist working with The Diplomat, veteran journalist Kamal Shukla and video journalist Bhushan Choudhari. All three had travelled to Narayanpur to cover the run-up to the state Assembly elections scheduled for November 12. They were detained for eight hours. And only let off after significant pressure from human rights activists across the country.

Narayanpur is part of Bastar in Chhattisgarh and has been a hot-bed of Naxalite activity.

What do the people of Bastar want?
In an exclusive chat with Sabrang, Kamal Shukla talks to us about his experience, and clarifies misconceptions around the electoral process in Bastar. He also talks about the challenges villagers face and myths around the notion of ‘development’ in the area.

पुलिसिया वातावरण में पत्रकारिता : कमल शुक्ल

It must be noted that earlier this year, Kamal Shukla was booked on charges of sedition, adding him to the long list of journalists against whom the Chhattisgarh government has slapped spurious sedition charges.

Kamal Shukla starts by asking a basic question that is central to enforcing democratic institutions in the region, he says it is important to ask what do the people of Bastar want, “Do they want to get connected to the democratic systems/ institutions? Do they consider themselves citizens of India?”

In this connection he recollects the experience of his journey to the remote villages of Chhattisgarh, usually disconnected from the imagination of ‘development’ in the name of ‘Naxalite activity.’

“A couple of years ago, the people were hesitant to talk to journalists. But this time they surrounded us to talk to us,” noted Shukla while vividly describing every small detail.

He says, when he reached the villages, the people asked if he and the others had come as a representative of the government of India.

“If you have come as a representative then please send across our message that we want to participate in the elections, we want to vote,” they said. But they lamented, “The polling booths should be close to where we stay. Why do they ask us to travel 40-50 kilometres [in order to vote]?”

Shukla strongly feels that booth shifting is a mechanism to completely destroy the democratic institutions of the region and strongly claims in that Adivasis are indeed interested in casting their votes.
“It’s completely false to say that the areas in which Maoists are active, voting doesn’t happen or that people aren’t interested to vote.”

Shukla says that as people start talking, they complain that there are so many issues; the roads are in dilapidated condition, no school teacher comes to teach in the schools. However, these find no mention in the contesting parties’ manifestos. All manifestos talk about construction of roads, that too not for the villagers but for the armed forces to be conveniently able to travel inside.

“It’s the government that’s preventing people from becoming a part of the democracy —- and the mainstream,” he alleges.

“Interestingly the people who said this (demanded to vote) were the same young boys and girls who had even been captured on accusations of naxalism. If they were with the Maoists then why would they put forth such a demand?” asks Shukla.

He highlights the issue of false cases, in which police issues a press release about a certain Adivasi saying how they are Maoists. However, in 98% of such cases people are acquitted.

Shukla’s trysts with Police at Narayanpur
He relates the experience to how they were treated when they went to Narayanpur, “When we were stopped in Narayanpur, our cameras were snatched away in an unconstitutional manner.”Despite showing their identity documents to the police, they weren’t allowed to go and were informed that the police officials were waiting for some ‘senior officer’. The guest reporter, Siddharthya Roy, asked them to take them to these ‘higher officials.’ They were then taken to the Superintendent of Police’s (SP) office only by 9 pm after significant amount of pressure. The data from their memory cards was copied and a recovery software was run to find deleted files. They were repeatedly told that if they had sought permission then they would not have to face such problems.  Needless to say that nowhere in the world are journalists expected to take permission from any authorities to report from the ground.

In this context, Shukla recalls an interesting conversation with the SP from this visit.

SP Jiten Shukla: “You know, the journalists of Narayanpur are very good..they work as per our wishes”

Kamal Shukla: “Sir can you elaborate, how?”

SP Jiten Shukla: “Whatever we say they comply by it, agree to it”

A media Black hole
“I would say the condition of media in Bastar is that there is no media! There is the local media which reports from the ground. No established media houses want to give the journalists of Bastar a decent salary. Hence they have to work like contractors, they need to find other sources of livelihood,” said Shukla while talking about the plight of the local journalists.

“They have a lot of compulsions and work under a lot of pressures, they can’t defy the police,” he adds.

Shukla feels that the journalists in Bastar don’t have an alternative. Interestingly, he says, the news is always about the two development blocks in Narayanpur. If one pays attention to the stories from this area, only these two blocks are mentioned, there’s no mention of Abujhmad villages, another area in which the Naxalites are active.

“Since there is no media in these villages, the political parties don’t even go in these areas to campaign,” he adds.

This has led to a complete isolation of the people from these villages from the democractic procedures and mechanisms. “You have kept an entire population away from the ‘festival of democracy’ then how can you say that the people are not interested to vote?

Highlighting the existing conditions, he says that the Abujhmad area has not been surveyed, number of people, voters etc. isn’t known to the government.

Contrary to ‘popular’ perception, that Naxalites seem to be coercing villagers into not voting, Shukla says, “It is totally wrong to say that because of Naxalites’ boycott of the elections, people of Bastar don’t cast their votes.”

“Government shouldn’t approach the people only when they need votes, they should go otherwise too,” he adds.

He feels the best way to deal with this is to “implement constitution”. He adds that government has not shown any interest in implementing the PESA, 5^th Schedule or 6^th Schedule in these villages.
Shukla comes to a conclusion that the situation is not fit in Bastar to have a democratic and fair election.

“Governance had been removed from villages and shifted towards cities while the villages have been militarised and more and more armed forces have been left even in the interiors and remote corners.”
 

Related:
https://sabrangindia.in/article/election-watch-chhattisgarh-nobody-knows-modi-raman-singh-or-development-remote-areas
https://sabrangindia.in/article/election-watch-chhattisgarh-no-media-no-news-only-evms-and-governments
 

The post With press freedom under attack, are elections in Bastar truly democratic? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Protests began almost immediately outside senior journalist Gauri Lankesh’s residence in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar after she was shot dead this evening.

The words of fellow journalist, Pheroze Vincent from the Telegraph say it all: “The moment you killed Gauri, your bhakts celebrated on twitter. The moment you faced a backlash, you and your fronts condemned it on your letter heads. The outrage doesn’t stop. Now you blame the Congress, Maoists, Beastie Boys, Hafiz Saeed, you can’t can this rage because your bloodlust has betrayed you. You fool none, scare none. Come and see us on the streets tomorrow.”

Gauri drove home as is usual and had reached home, parked her car, stepped out of her vehicle and was walking towards the gate whent he first two bullets were fired. They hit her back. As she turned, another three got her straight in the chest and she died instantly. An elderly neighbour called her mother Indira and sister Kavitha informing them that she had fallen down. When they rushed to the spot they discovered that she had been murdered, in cold blood by assassins bullets.

#IamGauri Protests in various parts of India against the assassination of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh.

Protests on September 6:
BANGALORE – 8:45 am, Naik Bhavan
DELHI, CHENNAI – 11 am,  Press Club
MUMBAI – 6 pm, Amphitheater, Carter Road
HYDERABAD – 4 pm, Sunderayya Vignana Kendram
MANGALORE – 4 pm, Town Hall, Gandhi Statue
DHARWAD – 10 am, Prof Kalburghi’s house
PUNE – 4 pm, opp SP College, Sadashiv Peth, Tilak Road

[[ If you are in Bangalore protests against Gauri Lankeshs murder started at 10 pm at Town hall and have now finished and will continue from 1030 am again tomorrow morning. Also Bangalore at 845 a.m. at Naik Bhavan. Mangalore ongoing protests near DCs office now and tomorrow 9 AM @ jyothi circle, 5 PM @ DC office. In Mandya tomorrow morning at 10 am rally from Silver Jubilee Park. 
If you are in Delhi be at Press club to protest at 11 a.m tomorrow, and a protest and condolence meeting is at 3 pm. Kerala union of journalists will also protest at noon at Jantar Mantar and another protest will happen on 7 September at Jantar mantar at 4 pm. If you are in Mumbai 6 pm Amphitheater, Carter Road, Bandra.Hyderabad Sunderayya Vignana Kendram 4 pm. Chennai, 11am, tomorrow, near Press Club. Protests in Kerala at High court junction 6pm, Manaveeyam veedhi Trivandrum, 4pm ]]

There will be more words to remember Gauri tomorrow an therefter. Until then, some images.

In Delhi, the joint protest of the Press Association, Press Club of India and Indian Womens Press Corps will be in front of the Press Club of India tomorrow at 3pm, or join Kerala Union of Working Journalists protest opposite Kerala House at 12noon. There is also a protest by concerned citizens opposite the Press Club of India at 11am and a condolence meeting in JNU’s SL-SIS lawns at 1130am. Dont forget, dont forgive the murder of our colleague. Remember this image, this state of our nation. Feel disturbed, feel rage, lose sleep, feel something

Karnataka police chief R K Dutta said Lankesh was shot dead by unidentified assailants at the entrance of her residence. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah condemned her murder and described it as an assassination of democracy. Absolutely shocked to learn about the murder of renowned journalist Gauri Lankesh,” Siddaramaiah tweeted. “I have no words to condemn this heinous crime. In her passing, Karnataka has lost a strong progressive voice, and I have lost a friend,” the chief minister said.
 
Lankesh was the daughter of journalist and writer P Lankesh.  In November 2016, Lankesh was convicted in two separate defamation cases for her article from January 2008 criticising leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party. She was out on bail in the case.

There will be more words to remember Gauri tomorrow an therefter. Until then, some images.

Condemning the killing of Ms. Lankesh, Narendra Nayak, president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, said, “The elimination of voices of reason by silencing them through murder was the hallmark of those cowardly dunces who have no arguments to counter those put forward by us.” She was one of those who was not afraid to speak her mind on any issue which she felt was important, he said.  “As a fellow member on the hit list of these organisations, I feel sad that I have lost a good friend and a supporter… I knew her since three decades right from the days she was a reporter for Sunday. More than a journalist she was a social activist raising her voice for the oppressed and exploited of the society, he said. “It is a shame tor all the citizens of our country that we have tolerated such a sorry state of affairs here that even voices cannot be raised against the forces of irrationalism and communalism. Let those forces clearly understand that such acts by them are not going to silence us. They are only going to become stronger.”

Also Read:

1. Indian journalist critical of Hindu extremists is shot dead in Bangalore

The post Adieu Gauri Lankesh, Fearless Fighter and Dear Friend appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The whys and wherefores behind the recent media gag by the state in Kashmir

Note from the author: The ban is off from July 21 but I can safely say that the article remains relevant, looking at the larger picture.

“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise”
– Adolf Hitler

Hitler’s Nazi regime ruled the German public with two main weapons – propaganda and censorship – ensuring that they had the public in their grip as they bombarded them on a daily basis with the glorification of Hitler, convincing them about the better prospects of their lives but ensured complete and blanket silence over the gory stories of holocaust and concentration camps. The stories eventually did come out – in the form of narratives, fiction, diaries and reports.

There is no way one can keep a lid on facts forever. Narratives tucked away and hidden, will resurrect to be told, re-told and heard.

If that be so, then what is it that the Jammu and Kashmir government was trying to achieve by banning newspapers — and doing so in a brazen and rash manner of clamping down on newspaper offices by conducting raids and arresting staffers in the dead of the night–amidst one of the worst and violent crisis that Kashmir is presently facing?  Was it trying to stop them newspapers from reporting and journalists from commenting? Was it trying to block all channels of information so that people remained ignorant? Few days down after the clampdown, so far, the PDP led coalition government comes across as unsure on the issue.

After newspaper printing presses and offices were visited on July 15 by unwanted midnight guests in uniform who packed the visit with intimidation, abuse, handcuffs even as they walked off with newspapers, printing material and personnel (technical staffers) of at least two of the newspapers (including my own), media persons in Srinagar staged a protest march. Journalists also met the Divisional Commissioner who, while being evasive on the raid and ban, said that he was in no position to provide the media with any curfew relaxation passes to allow them to discharge their duties, nor could he assure journalists any protection.

Two days later, PDP minister Nayeem Akhtar went to the extent of telling a television news channel that the move to stop publication of newspapers was necessitated sensing ‘trouble’. A day after he took charge of the midnight-declared state of Emergency, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s political adviser, Amitabh Mattoo maintained that there was no ban and that the chief minister had no idea about it. The government transferred a superintendent of police, blaming him for recklessly cracking down on the press.

Which of these versions is true? The newspapers hit the stands again after six days on Thursday, July 21, following an assurance from chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. This should, however not be treated as the end of the story.

Important questions need to be asked. A week long ban on newspapers, a belated response of the government necessitated probably by the unusual solidarity from sections of Indian journalists and intellectuals, was not without design. It was nothing but ill advised. Who was the brainchild behind the move which may eventually become a footnote, but is no less significant. The move and the motive need elaboration. First things first, why was this done? Who instructed the now out of favour Superintendant of Police?

The logic behind any bans stems from the necessity to hide. All Internet connections and mobile phones have already been partially snapped since July 9. In the worst affected areas, the landline phones have also been disconnected. Newspapers have not been allowed to be circulated freely due to the prevalent curfew restrictions. All this has made the information from the public to media and vice versa filtered and restricted, as it is.

Important questions need to be asked. A week long ban on newspapers, a belated response of the government necessitated probably by the unusual solidarity from sections of Indian journalists and intellectuals, was not without design. It was nothing but ill advised. Who was the brainchild behind the move which may eventually become a footnote, but is no less significant.

The state government’s worry is not that if these filtered bits and pieces of information find their way to print they would provoke more violence than there already exists. In this day and age of internet and gizmos, that job was being managed partially despite the ban on newspapers who continued to maintain and update their websites and circulate whatever they could through digital applications, even though this meant that news was reaching far fewer numbers of people.

The government’s anxiety is with the printed word becoming an authentic piece of documentation with a longer shelf life. The national television channels were switched on 24X7 and national print media was not subjected to any kind of similar ban. The ban, and the need for the ban from the state and government’s point of view, highlights the vast chasm between the perspectives reflected in the regional press and the national press, with respect to Kashmir.

While an ultra-nationalist narrative inspires the former, the latter give ample space to voices of the common Kashmiri and Jammu resident, suffering due a perpetual state of conflict. It is the local newspapers that fill in the gaps left by either the silence or jingoism of the ‘national’ press. In recent days, despite the hurdles of obtaining authentic information amidst curfew bound streets and crackdown on communication systems, it is the local newspapers that have managed to source and publish the narratives that tell the story of the atrocities on the people; chilling stories about how people got killed and about the injured recuperating in the hospitals, about the pellet guns playing havoc with people’s lives, impairing them physically for their life time; of the 130 blindings by pellet guns of mostly children and teenagers.

It is these stories that rarely make it to the pages of major ‘national’ mainstream newspapers, which are a major challenge for the State peddling its lies about what is happening in Kashmir.

This is not the first time that attempts have been made to muzzle the press. Earlier, in 2010 and 2013, the newspapers were unable to publish newspapers and circulate or distribute copies, because of excessive curfew restrictions and the denial of curfew passes to media persons that prevented journalists from stepping out. In striking contrast, while the Valley was forced to remain without newspapers, commercial television crews who flew in from Delhi were provided escorts to move across the Valley and offer a point of view that suited the government.

There is a definite pattern behind this –in how both the commercial media and government relations operate. Through this cynical game of muzzling the media, it is the Central Government that seeks to reap the rich harvest from this demonizing of a people’s resistance, dwarfing their victimization and creating the a hysteria around ultra-nationalism which is the new normal in much of ‘national’ media’s reportage on Kashmir.

That the present gag on the local, regional media, could have been inspired by Delhi cannot be ruled out, nor the fact that it was effected through orders to some of its cronies within the police and administration. The state government, ignorant or otherwise, cannot be condoned either for its ineffectiveness, or for acquiescing without any application of mind, especially on the consequences.

It is the local newspapers that fill in the gaps left by either the silence or jingoism of the ‘national’ press. In recent days, despite the hurdles of obtaining authentic information amidst curfew bound streets and crackdown on communication systems, it is the local newspapers that have managed to source and publish the narratives that tell the story of the atrocities on the people.

It is all about chaining and imprisoning a narrative, controlling it, stifling its telling and super-imposing on the real, local story, a manufactured narrative of ultra-nationalism, of ‘paid agents’, of ‘jihadi terror’, of ‘things under control’, of an enemy called Pakistan and of normalcy and happy pictures of tourism.

What bigger proof does one need of India’s moral defeat with regard to the Kashmir conflict than this reality of employing weaponry of lies and propaganda to hide the ugliness of bullets, blinded children, torture and brutality?

The narrative, as it is, has been controlled. In the history of 26 years of insurgency, the media has been tamed and silenced through the use of many devices. In the beginning of the nineties, caught between the gun of the militants and the security forces, intimidations, physical attacks, even murders and curfews, though newspapers continued to be published, writing more insightful and detailed stories almost amounted to committing suicide. Many newspapers even went without editorial content to play safe.

When media gradually began to evolve, freeing itself from the clutches of ‘anti-movement’ and ‘Indian nationalistic’ discourse, the government cracked down with fresh arm twisting methods – squeezing the financial flow of the newspapers by stopping their government advertisements particularly the central government-controlled DAVP advertisements, the main source of revenue for newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir.

In 2010, the advertisements to several Kashmir based newspapers were stopped following a letter from the union home ministry, which gave no explanations for this withdrawal of financial support. The order was dutifully followed. In subsequent years, while advertisements of most newspapers have been restored (arbitrarily or otherwise), Kashmir Times (of which I am the Executive Editor), printed out of both Jammu and Srinagar has been singled out and kept starved of funds.

Shockingly, the interlocutors appointed by the Indian government after the 2010 killings to look into the grievances of the people in one of their recommendations suggested that there was a need to publish national papers out of Srinagar as the local newspapers were “unreliable”!

In 2010, the state government also banned the local cable television channels in Srinagar from screening news based programmes on the pretext that these channels were not duly registered. However, in Jammu, similarly un-registered channels continue to operate without any hindrance.

The media, thus, has been already in chains. In a near permanent curfew-imposed situation, the media is further imprisoned by the lack of information and the crackdown on communication systems. So what then makes even the present gag order unique? And what purpose was it meant to serve?

In a fashion, it is just another link in the sequence; in another, it reflects the growing and increasing penchant of the government for absolute control, exercised deliberately through power of the brute force of khakhi, in brazen violation of law, ethics and democratic principles itself.

Now, like then, when gory stories of boys dragged out of their homes and shot at point-blank range, tales of random arrests, crackdowns and molestations, of children blinded by pellet guns who have gone missing, abound, yet another unbridgeable chasm has opened, defying resolution of the churning that is Kashmir.

Successive governments, both in the state and at the Centre, have looked upon local media as deadly missiles that need to be kept under check and control, not as sources of information that the government itself can rely on for feedback about both the day to day needs of the people as well as their oppression, anger and political aspiration. The existence of a professional regional media, rooted in Jammu and Kashmir marginalizes rumour mongering, because –notwithstanding crtain biases — media houses are guided by certain professional ethics. A free media can provide a vital link between the public and the government, conveying what a people are feeling and doing, vital to a region mired in conflict. It is worthwhile now recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 arrogant snub of then chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed who was urging for political dialogue with the Kashmiris. “We don’t need any advice from anybody on Kashmir”, Modi had famously said.   

It is this mindset that inspires men in power to not just crush a population brutally but also crush the voices speaking for them. Their aim is to make the narrative disappear.

But, as history reveals and as human minds are known to work, and remember, sooner or later the narratives will emerge – emerge to haunt, often with a dash of bitterness and sometimes peppered with rumours. Sometimes dangerously so.

In January 1990, during the infamous days of strict curfew and black-outs in the wake of Jagmohan taking over as Governor, the information flow remained very limited making the reportage of both the flight of Kashmiri Pandits and the slew of massacres starting from Gawkadal that Kashmir witnessed, both rather sketchy and flimsy.

In subsequent years, those stories have been told and re-told at individual and community levels with little possibility of authenticating the narrative: sometimes one does not know where to sift fact from fiction as the stories have emerged with such contradicting and contrasting perspectives that just do not match.

It is this huge chasm, the chasm of the missing truth telling of those dark days that continues to play a role in shaping the communal divide within Kashmir. Now, like then, when gory stories of boys dragged out of their homes and shot at point-blank range, tales of random arrests, crackdowns and molestations, of children blinded by pellet guns who have gone missing, abound, yet another unbridgeable chasm has opened, defying resolution of the churning that is Kashmir.

 (The author is Executive Editor, Kashmir Times)
 

The post Kashmir: Chaining the Narrative appeared first on SabrangIndia.