‘Don't use law as tools of intimidation’: Editors Guild demands release of Uttarakhand journalist

The Editors Guild of India on Thursday demanded the immediate release of local journalist Kishore Ram following his arrest by Uttarakhand police. In a statement, the group said it was “deeply disturbed” by the arrest and also urged the state administration not to use laws as “tools of intimidation” against journalists.

Ram, who worked with local news portal Janjwar, was arrested by the Pithoragarh police on February 24 after he posted a video of a father accusing two men of sexually assaulting his daughter and her cousin, the Indian Express reported. Ram was charged with “promoting enmity between groups and extorting money by manufacturing fake news”. Express said the police also accused him of “asking caste of people” from family members and speaking about “killing of people belonging to SC by upper caste people”.

The guild pointed out that the FIR against Ram was in the context of his reportage on two separate incidents: the death of a Dalit youth on February 13, and the alleged sexual assault of two Dalit girls on February 18. In both cases, the statement said, “Ram had interviewed those who knew the victims, including the family members, and uploaded the videos on the website”.

“This is extremely distressing that mere reporting on what may very well be caste based crimes are being cited as grounds for arrest,” the guild’s statement said. It also noted that it was “deeply concerning” since the journalist “has been reporting on issues pertaining to marginalised classes and lower castes for a while”.

Speaking to the Indian Express, Pithoragarh SP Lokeshwer Singh had said, “The man is not a journalist and has no identification to prove otherwise. He generally raises issues related to caste and we have found at least eight such cases where he raised issues by posting videos to extort money from people.”

With regards to the alleged sexual assault, the senior police officials had claimed that they recieved no complaint and no FIR was registered in the case.

Editor and owner of Janjwar Ajay Prakash told the Indian Express the videos posted by them did not promote enmity and that Ram was just doing his job. He called the affair a case of police brutality and media oppression.