The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) has castigated the ham-handed manner and the speed with which the police lodged criminal cases against the publisher and editor of Outlook and the writer of one of its recent stories, Neha Dixit , at the behest of some RSS elements . This attack the DUJ felt was not only an attack on freedom of the press but one motivated at silencing the messenger.
In a statement to the press today the DUJ President SK Pande and General Secretary Sujata Madhok notes that instead of targeting the Outlook writer, action should be taken against child traffickers mentioned in the story, who so ever they may be. The DUJ statement also notes that in this month alone investigative journalist, Narada Editor Mathew Samuel was detained on arrival in Delhi on the basis of lookout notice against him. And now following the article on Outlook titled ‘Operation Baby Lift’ criminal cases were filed on the Outlook.
This should be seen in the backdrop of a record of press bashing in the two years which is ominous indeed. ‘Are we heading for an undeclared Press Censorship by muzzling opposing views’, it asked. The DUJ added that such attacks on journalists and writers smacked of a witch-hunt against all those opposed to the thinking of the RSS & BJP and their close allies – in particular.
Press statement
