freedom of press
The National Human Rights Commission today issued notice to the Chhattisgarh government in connection with the alleged wrongful detention and torture of a journalist , who is a human rights activist.
The state chief secretary and director general of police have been asked to submit a factual report in the matter within two weeks.
According to the commission, journalist Prabhat Singh was picked up by policemen in plainclothes from his shop without notice or warning on 21 March evening, and charged under Section 67 and 67(a) of the IT Act for disseminating allegedly obscene material over WhatsApp.
“He was taken to the Parpa police station, beaten up and tortured all night and even deprived of food and water,” a commission statement said.
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A Supreme Court bench comprising justices JS Khehar and C Nagappan today restrained the media from reporting the proceedings of the hearing of the SLP filed by the Patidar leader, Hardik Bharatbhai Patel against the dismissal of his bail petition by the Gujarat High Court and seeking quashing of FIR lodged against him.
The government will keep a watch on the narrative in all such threads. Every time a negative narrative surfaces, a possible counter would be initiated - through press releases, briefings or press conferences, depending on the intensity or standing of the post.
The software would also help recall the past pattern of the writer to check the number of times he took a negative or positive stand, his background, and preferences of websites and areas of interest to judge whether they were aimed at fomenting trouble or radicalisation.
sources told the The Indian Express about the government’s planned new “media cell to track content online, and counter news and comments that it decides are negative or provocative” about the government.
In Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust and Ors vs R Ramanathan and Ors, the Supreme Court bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and SA Bobde, refused to intervene in the dispute between the Aurobindo Ashram Trust and the respondents over the former’s failure to take steps to seek confiscation of copies of the book, “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo” written by Peter Heehs.
The Delhi high court has lifted its order restraining publication of reports on the alleged harassment complaint joint winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Rajendra K Pachauri.
The chilling effect of the Delhi high court’s gag order it the Swatanter Kumar case is only the latest in a long line of examples of the media losing out in its fight to report on the judiciary, argues advocate Prashant Reddy.
The Delhi high court’s order, restricting media coverage of the sexual harassment allegations against Swatanter Kumar, should give the Supreme Court cause to consider its Sahara gag order decision, argues Chinamyi Arun, research director at the Centre for Communication Governance at NLU Delhi and fellow at the CIS Bangalore.
After sending a takedown request for a photograph last Thursday, Karanjawala & Co, representing ex-SC judge Swatanter Kumar in a defamation case, declined to specify which parts of Legally India’s coverage relating to the case should be removed.
Karanjawala & Co, the law firm representing Swatanter Kumar in his Rs 5 crore defamation suit, has sent Legally India a legal notice for the removal of an anonyised photograph of the ex-judge.
Karanjawala & Company partner Manik Karanjawala is representing Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata who has approached the Supreme Court today about the Nira Radia tapes that he alleges violated his privacy, reported the Indian Express.
Exclusive: Activist lawyer Prashanth Bhushan has condemned media ownership and its consequences after secret wiretap tapes that were released as part of the 2G scam case, which contained alleged conversations between well-known publicist Nira Radia and India’s rich, powerful and the Fourth Estate.