According to sources on September 5, 2019 a criminal case wasfiled against Mr. Ashish Tomar and Mr. Shakeel Ahmadin the Mandwar police station of district Bijnor in Uttar Pradeshunder Sections 153 A (promoting enmity), 268 (nuisance) and 503 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Codeand Section 66 A of the Information TechnologyAct reportedly on a complaint by Senior Sub Inspector Pramod Kumarof the Mandwar police station of district Bijnor.According to the police FIR,reporterswerebooked for trying to vitiate social amity by manipulatingandspreading fake news about “Dalits threatening to leave” at Titarwala Basi village under Mandawar police station after influential Harijan Dalit family prevented them from drawing water from a hand pump.The FIR alleges that the two reporters instigated the Dalits to threatenthat they would leave the village. It further says that on the instigation of the reporters the Dalits put up a sign saying their houses were on sale.According to the journalists,they are being targeted by the police for factual reporting. They informed that the local police was apparently finding itself in an unhappy situation over their reporting on the case of caste discrimination against a Valmiki dalit family in a dalit-majority village in Bijnor district. They confirmed to HRDA that they have recorded versions of the person quoted in the story and the police personnel from Mandawar police station of district Bijnor putpressure on Lokesh Devi of the Valmiki family to add the namesof journalists in the statement given to the police toframe themin a false case. In Uttar Pradesh journalists, writers and activists are facing the risk of getting hounded by the government for exposing stark ground realities. In most scenarios, while doing their job honestly and dedicatedly, journalists being the crusaders of truth often encounter harassment, intimidation and even life-threatening situations. On 31 August, 2019in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, journalistPawan Kumar Jaiswal was booked for criminal conspiracy by the state policefor exposinga roti-salt “meal” being served to roughly 100 schoolchildrenunder the Mid-DayMeal scheme of the government.The FIR against Journalists and human rights defenders Mr. Ashish Tomar of Hindi daily Dainik Jagaran and Mr. Shakeel Ahmad has exposedthe malafide intentions of the local police and is a big blow to the freedom of press.Article 19, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) mandates right to freedom of opinion and expression and is protected in all relevant human rights treaties. Freedom of opinion and expression are fundamental rights that contain both a personal and a social dimension. As per General Comment No. 34 on Freedoms of Speech and Expression, Human Rights Committee has observed that free speech and expression is an “indispensable conditions for the full development of the person”, “essential for any society” and a “foundation stone for every free and democratic society”. Journalists who are human rights defenders as well face major risks as a result of their work. Governments and other powerful actors, seeking to escape scrutiny and stifle dissent, often respond to critical reporting or activism with attempts to silence them. Threats, surveillance, attacks, arbitrary arrest and detention, and, in the gravestcases, enforced disappearance or killings, are too often the cost of reporting the truth. The protection of journalists and human rights defenders, and ending impunity for attacks against them, is a global priority for safeguarding freedom of expression. States are under an obligation to prevent, protect against, and prosecute attacks against journalists and human rights defenders. Creating a safe and enabling environment for their work necessitates legal reform, the creation of special protection mechanisms, and protocols to guide effective investigations and prosecutions where attacks occur. Therefore, the action of the police in the present case tantamount to clampdown on freedom of opinion and expression of the journalists who were just doing their duty of covering action of abuse by Non State actors.