Face2News/Chandigarh
Chandigarh Press Club’s Governing Council met Punjab Governor and Administrator of Union Territory Chandigarh, Shri Banwarilal Purohit on Friday and submitted a memorandum regarding the regular attacks on the freedom of press by the government authorities and Punjab Police.
In the last couple of months, the twitter accounts of many journalists, commentators, media organisations, including the independent verticals, related to Punjab, were ‘withheld’ in India based on a government request.
(SUBHEAD)It’s very difficult to restore the withheld twitter accounts and many of these accounts that were withheld earlier are still under suspension. The government authorities are involved in ‘arbitrary suspension’ of social media accounts of several Punjab-based journalists and media organisations.
Punjab Police has even gone to an extent to curb the free speech by arresting some of the independent journalists and raiding the houses of the journalists. This is a blatant attack on the freedom of press and free speech.
Earlier this month, Punjab Police made an unlawful arrest of an electronic media journalist in Ludhiana while she was on a professional duty.Finding another weapon to curb the media’s voice, the SC/ST Act was slapped against her. These acts are a blatant attack on the freedom of press and the Chandigarh Press Club condemned the action of the Punjab Police and all the authorities involved.
In the memorandum, the governing council has urged the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator to take up the matter with the Punjab Police and concerned government agencies to stop unnecessary harassment of the journalists, said Umesh Sharma, Secretary General of Chandigarh Press Club.