These arrests are the latest example of the decline of press freedom in India.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Indian police have arrested a Muslim journalist for allegedly hurting religious feelings. However, it has been widely criticized as the latest example of reduced press freedom under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Senior KPS Police Officer Malhotra said co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News Mohammed Zubair was arrested for tweets that police say intentionally insulted a certain religious deity.
“The case was filed following a complaint from a Twitter user and Zubair was detained for a day,” he said. Al Arabiya on Wednesday (6/29/2022).
With this incident, journalists across India have been increasingly targeted for their work in recent years. Some have been arrested on heavy criminal charges for posting on social media, where they regularly face threats and trolling. Account Twitter some journalists and news sites have also been suspended by government order.
The incident immediately sparked a wave of anger, with activists, journalists and opposition politicians taking to social media to denounce it as press harassment while calling for Zubair’s immediate release.
“In a democracy, where every individual has the right to exercise their freedom of speech and expression, it cannot be justified that such strict laws be used as a tool against journalists,” said DIGIPUB, the Indian network digital media organizations.
Meanwhile, Alt News founder Pratik Sinha said Zubair was arrested without police notice, which is the legal requirement for the party he was detained for. Founded in 2017 as a non-profit organization, Alt News is India’s leading fact-checking news website.
The founder often faced trolling online and threats from far-right groups, some of which are linked to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party. Several similar cases have been filed against Zubair in the past.
Earlier this month, police accused him of calling some Hindu monks ‘haters’, news site Thread report. Hindu monks have made inflammatory statements about Muslims and at least one has called for “genocide” against minority communities. The monks were arrested and then released on bail.
Zubair was also among the first journalists to highlight the now-suspended BJP spokesperson’s controversial comments about the Prophet Muhammad creating a diplomatic row for the Modi government. The Indian government distanced itself from the spokesperson’s comments after it sparked a massive backlash from many Muslim countries.
India’s ranking dropped eight places to 150 out of 180 countries in this year’s press freedom index published by monitoring group Reporters Without Borders.
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