FIR against journalist over migrants' protest: NBA slams action as assault on free press

In a letter to Thackeray, NBA chief Rajat Sharma expressed shock and anguish over the "unreasonable arrest" of journalist Rahul Kulkarni, who works with a Marathi news channel.

New Delhi: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) on Thursday described the arrest of a journalist in Maharashtra over a news report, which allegedly led to a crowd gathering in Mumbai's Bandra, as a "frontal assault" on the freedom of the press and urged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to get the charges against the scribe dropped.

In a letter to Thackeray, NBA chief Rajat Sharma expressed shock and anguish over the "unreasonable arrest" of journalist Rahul Kulkarni, who works with a Marathi news channel.

A Mumbai court on Thursday granted bail to Kulkarni who was arrested for allegedly "spreading misinformation'' with his report that the government was thinking of starting Jan Sadharan train services for migrants, which allegedly led to a crowd gathering in Bandra.

Kulkarni was arrested by Mumbai Police on Wednesday, a day after several migrant workers gathered near Bandra station demanding that they are sent back to their hometowns.

Sharma, in his letter to the chief minister, said the FIR is based upon some reports which purported to draw the connection between the gathering at Mumbai Bandra West station and a news story by him.

"The said senior Journalist is a person with an impeccable record and known for his upright journalism and would always have made himself available to the investigating agency/agencies for any purpose and thus there is no question of him fleeing from or evading the investigating agency which necessitated an arrest in the current pandemic situation exposing him to the risk of contracting the virus," the NBA chief said.

NBA condemns the act of "unreasonable arrest" and it is a "serious infringement on the right of freedom of speech and a frontal assault on the free press", the letter said.

"The fundamental right of freedom of speech is sought to be gagged and any further custody and incarceration of him would be a serious infraction of the constitutional mandate and would also threaten his life," Sharma said.

The NBA has constituted an adjudicatory body -- News Broadcasting Standards Authority -- which is an independent body headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Arjun Sikri, he said.

Its task is to consider and adjudicate complaints about broadcasts, he said.

The NBA is empowered to pass various orders and can warn, admonish, censure, express disapproval against and/or impose a fine upon the broadcaster and/or recommend to the concerned authority for suspension or revocation of the license of such a broadcaster, Sharma pointed out.

"It would be therefore in the larger interest of press freedom that a journalist and reporter of the standing of Rahul Kulkarni is freed from all charges so that the sanctity of the press freedom is restored," he said.

"Any complaints with respect to the said or any content may kindly be made to the NBSA….we assure you that justice would be done and in case of any violation appropriate orders would be passed in accordance with the NBSA regulations," he said in the letter, requesting the chief minister to intervene in the matter. (PTI)