Press or the media is an important and inseparable constituent of our democracy. It not only does the inquisitive part of journalism, very much of a cardinal nature to keep the society and the country well informed but protects the rights of the individuals by voicing concern for them, any injustice or any wrong , last but not the least any violation of the rights suffered by him or her otherwise guaranteed under the constitution.
It is, therefore, a natural corollary that every effort should be made to see that the freedom and the autonomy of the press was not only maintained but ensured at all costs. Recently, one of the press reporters of a leading National English Daily, as usual, in the ordinary course of business, did reporting in respect of some stone pelting incident in Srinagar due to which a tourist bus is alleged to have been partially hit and also four women having got minor injuries.
Denying any such incident of stone pelting, an FIR was filed against the reporter by the police on the basis of some travel agents having filed complaint with them against the credibility of the report.
Meanwhile, various Journalist Associations have condemned the FIR against TOI correspondent in Srinagar for his report on the attack on tourist bus in Srinagar. Various members of the fraternity have termed the lodging of the FIR as the “attack on the freedom of the press”.
It would have been in the fitness of things and a preferred option as well, with the Government to come up with a factual narration of the actual happening instead of booking the reporter under certain penal provisions of the law. The Government should look into the matter at an earliest.
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