India: CFWIJ condemns the unfair charges against journalist Mrinal Pande faces

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February 15, 2021, New Delhi – Journalist Mrinal Pande was charged with sedition for reporting or sharing allegedly unverified news about ongoing farmers’ protests in New Delhi. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) condemns the police report and the unfair charges against journalists over their coverage of the demonstrations. We demand an immediate dismissal for the accusations that Mrinal faces. 

The Indian police filed a first information report (FIR) against the National Herald’s Mrinal Pande and nine other journalists with charges of sedition for reporting or sharing allegedly unverified news about ongoing farmers’ protests. Many of the FIRs against the journalists or media workers are accused of trying to provoke protesters for their political and personal gain by spreading false and misleading information on the Internet.

CFWIJ documented several cases of attacks against women journalists covering the farmers’ protests on the ground. Many women reporters are vulnerable to online trolling campaigns that target journalists covering the unrest in India. Now, journalists are also facing legal harassment against them. 

Last week we documented two different cases that women journalists faced. The Wire’s editor, Ismat Araa's name to the FIR registered over a tweet she posted an article that implicated the police for the death of a farmer during the Indian Republic Day demonstration. The article cited the claims of the family of Navreet Singh, the sole casualty of the clash between the state and the protestors.

Also, Washington Post’s Rana Ayyub was targeted to organised troll campaign on February 4 for criticizing the government over the ongoing farmers’ protest in the country. Rana took her Twitter account to share the online harassment she faced. She expressed distress at the relentless trolling she was targeted with. In the tweet, she called the aggression this time around “something she has never witnessed before”.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns this misuse of state power to curb the freedom of the press. This is not the only case of the Indian state attempting to curb reporting on the ongoing demonstrations in the country. Reporters file articles covering all facets of a story; contradicting statements over an incident is meant to provide a fuller picture of the event, and not to incite violence. To justify this institutional overreach by implicating the reporter and editor under pretences is reprehensible.

We find these cases of attacks and harassment as threats to press freedom. We continue to support female journalists reporting on the demonstrations throughout India.