India: executive director of media outlet charged for reporting Government's shortcomings on COVID-19
Event- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Jun 13, 2020
- Event Description
Police lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against Supriya Sharma, the executive editor of news portal Scroll.in for her report on the lockdown in India�s prime minister Narendra Modi�s constituency. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the National Union of Journalists (India) (NUJI) urges the Indian government to withdraw the charges.
Mala Devi lodged an FIR at Varanasi�s Ramnagar police station in Uttar Pradesh on June 13, alleging Supriya Sharma misrepresented her interview in Domari village, Varanasi. Accordingly, police charged Sharma under section 501 and 269 of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly printing a defamatory story and a negligent act that is likely to cause the spread of a life-threatening disease.
Sharma�s article documented the impacts of the lockdown and inadequate emergency food support in Domari village, Varanasi. Modi adopted Domari village as part of his constituency in 2018.
NUJI president, Ras Bihari said: �This is a threat to democracy and attacks the origins of freedom of expression.� Ras Bihari expresses grave concern over the harassment of journalists through FIR's in Uttar Pradesh and appeals to journalists to fact-check before publishing a story.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19
- Offline
- HRD
- Media Worker
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 25.341716477475217
Longitude: 83.01193048408666
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 13 June 2020, Supriya Sharma, executive director of media outlet, was booked by the police for reporting Government's shortcomings on COVID-19 outbreak in Varanasi, India.