Editors Guild urges UP to withdraw FIR against journalist | Fusion - WeRIndia

Many school children in various states have been provided mid-day meal.

In this context, the school children in Siyur Primary School of Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh are being provided by mere rotis and salt.

Journalist Pawan Jaiswal exposed this matter and reported it by shooting a video to bring the issue to the notice of people as well as authorities.

But, the journalist was issued an FIR by the Block Education Officer (BDO) of the area accusing him and representative of village head Rajkumar Pal of defaming the image of the state government.

The Editors Guild of India condemned this action saying that booking a case against a journalist for criminal conspiracy is cruel.

The Guild issued a statement saying that journalists can freely and fearlessly express their views in a democratic society. But, instead of taking action to address the issue, the government has filed criminal cases against the journalist.

It also said that there are many easy and conventional redresses available for the government to be used against the journalist if the government believes that his report is wrong. Using the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and police are in no way responding to this matter.

The Guild in its statement urges the state government to withdraw the cases filed against the journalist and ensure that he would not be further harassed.

The statement also has recent incidents where journalists were denied overseas travel.

Despite the government having such powers due to the law, these powers have to be used in the rarest of rare cases and due procedure and disclosure have to be followed for it, says the Guild. These decisions should have to be transparent.

The children in the primary school of Mirzapur district are being served rotis as part of their mid-day meal.

However, on August 23, when the journalist visited the school, he found that they were served the rotis and salt to eat and he brought this issue into light by recording a video.

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