Press Club of India slams arrest of Rajeev Sharma
September 19, 2020 20:13
Press Club of India issues the following statement on the arrest of senior journalist Rajeev Sharma by the Delhi Police. The statement is signed by Press Club of India president Anand K Sahay and secretary-general Anant Bagaitkar:
'We are astounded to hear of the arrest of Mr Rajeev Sharma, a well-known independent journalist of long standing and a member of the Press Club of India.
'This is on account of the dubious track record of the Special Branch. More generally also, the record of Delhi Police is hardly a shining one.
'On the basis of the statement of the police released to the media, we have no hesitation in saying that the police action is high-handed, and may be inspired by obscure or questionable considerations.
'In 2002, Iftikhar Gilani, a senior journalist with Kashmir Times was arrested on the trumped up charge of tracking the Army's movements in Kashmir and keeping his so-called pay masters informed.
'He was thrown into Tihar jail for seven months where he was assaulted by other prisoners on the provocation of the authorities.
'Eventually, it was the Army's intelligence that gave the lie to the bogus police case and Mr Gilani had to be released.
'The poor part played by the magistracy was also brought out in that case.
'Subsequently, a Delhi journalist, who wrote for Iran's official news agency, was also arrested for playing in the hands of the Iranian secret service.
'His family also was made to run from pillar to post- all to no avail. Eventually it became clear that the whole case was bogus and the journalist was freed.
'Acting on a political basis, JNU and Jamia scholars such as Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others were picked up and Mr Kumar had to undergo a jail term in Tihar.
'Of late, Delhi Police, including its Special Branch, have made preposterous arrests under the lawless law called UAPA in which the word of the government is enough to keep an innocent person behind bars for long periods.
'These have happened in matters relating to anti-CAA protests and the carefully designed communal killings in the so-called February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi.
'Mr Rajeev Sharma's six-day police remand, after his arrest on September 14 under the Official Secrets act, evidently for relaying defence-related information to China, also appears mind-boggling. Mr Sharma wrote on strategic affairs and may well have accessed routinely over-classified information on the Internet that is in the public domain.
'Eventually, the matter will reach the magistracy and probably the higher levels of the judiciary. It is our demand, however, that in all cases of arrests of journalists anywhere in the country, the police must be required to inform the Press Council of India as well as the self-regulatory body of the broadcast media on an immediate basis, and provide pertinent details so that a defence may be possible to construct.'
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