Srinagar: The Kashmir Press Club has condemned the charges filed by police against independent photojournalist Masrat Zahra under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Section 505 of the IPC. The press club described the charges as the latest in a series of cases of harassment and summons to journalists by police in Kashmir.
“Even in this time of Coronavirus pandemic, journalists in Kashmir have been called to police stations and forced to present themselves to explain their stories,” the Kashmir Press Club (KPC) said in a statement.
“There are other cases where scribes have been harassed for traveling to report their stories,” it added.
Referring to the criminal charges slapped on Masrat Zahra, the KPC said, “She was summoned to Cyber Police Station, Aircargo, in Srinagar on April 18, 2020. However, after Kashmir Press Club and Directorate of Information intervened at the highest level, the police dropped the summon. But now it emerges the police have filed a case against her with stringent charges and under stringent acts. As per the conversation with Masrat, she has been asked to come to the Police Station concerned on Tuesday, April 21, 2020.”
Masrat’s work, as a freelance photo-journalist, has appeared in Washington Post, Al-Jazeera, Quint, and Caravan magazine, among others.
Mentioning another recent case of police harassment of journalists, the KPC said, “Similarly, police on Sunday (April 19) verbally summoned a senior journalist, Peerzada Ashiq, of The Hindu and asked him to explain the alleged factual inaccuracies in a story that was published the same day. While Peerzada explained his case to police in Srinagar, he was asked to travel to south Kashmir, some 40 kilometers away in evening, and present himself before a police officer in Anantnag district. He returned late in the midnight to his home in Srinagar but in the meantime his family was terrified and concerned about his safety.”
The KPC added, “Earlier also, a reporter of Kashmir Observer newspaper, Mushtaq Ahmad, was thrashed and arrested by the police in Bandipora when he was out during lockdown period related to his professional work. He was released only after securing a bail from the court.”
The Kashmir Press Club reiterated that the J&K government, especially the police, needs to understand that there is a vast difference between journalism and cyber crime.
“While the government has every right to rebut a story of a journalist and allow a journalist to respond, cases against journalists for their stories and work are unwarranted and outrightly illegal and draconian,” the KPC said.
“There is a full fledged government department — information and public relations — to deal with the issues between state and the journalists and any issue should be left for them to resolve,” the KPC pointed out.
“It is very unfortunate that when the world is in a grip of pandemic and when we need to stand together to combat Covid-19, police has started filing cases against journalists and harassing them,” the KPC said in its statement.
This is unacceptable for journalists of Kashmir who are well within their rights to seek freedom of expression and speech as guaranteed under the Constitution like other parts of the country.
In this regard, we seek intervention of Home Minister Amit Shah, LG GC Murmu and Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh to issue direction that this harassment comes to end.
We stand in solidarity with our colleagues especially Masrat Zahra and declare that journalism is not a crime. The KPC demands that the charges be dropped against her.
The Kashmir Press Club also seeks the cooperation and support of Indian and international journalist bodies at a time when the journalism in the region is under constant onslaught.
The KPC will also formally write to the Press Council of India and other bodies on these cases which seem to be aimed at pressuring journalists in the valley.

KR Desk