Earlier, a female photojournalist from the valley, Masrat Zahra, was booked under the Unlawful Activity Prevention Act (UAPA) for reportedly posting “anti-national post with criminal intent”. On the same day, by evening an FIR (No. 81/2020) has been lodged at Anantnag police station against a senior journalist Peerzada Ashiq, The Hindu’s correspondent in Srinagar, claiming a report headlined “Kin allowed to exhume bodies of militants in Baramulla” by The Hindu on April 19, regarding an encounter at Shopian and subsequent developments as “fake news”.
The report was factually incorrect, the details misquoted in the news item could cause fear or alarm in the minds of the public and was published without seeking verification from the district authorities,” said J&K police.r
In this regard, the journalist was called for questioning on Sunday by Cyber police in Srinagar and then again on the same evening by the Anantnag police before being directed to return home.
“The police is under duty and lawfully empowered under the Criminal Procedure Code to call for questioning. The investigation in both cases is underway,” the police added.
The alleged report was based on a quote from the uncle of a slain militant, Ghulam Nabi Magray. However, in contrast to the fact what he conveyed to the reporter, no such permission for the exhumation of the bodies of slain militants had been given. Seemingly, families of the slain militants confused the grant of curfew pass as a sanction for exhumation.
In a related development, Kashmir Press Club had called out the harassment of journalists by the police. “When the journalist explained his case to police in Srinagar, he was asked to travel to South Kashmir, some 40 km away in the evening and present himself before a police officer in Anantnag district,” the KPC said in a statement. KPC also has sought the intervention of Home Minister Amit Shah, LG GC Murmu and Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh to issue a direction that this harassment comes to end.
“The Jammu and Kashmir government, especially the police, needs to understand that there is a vast difference between journalism and cybercrime,” the press club said in reference to the Cyber police station summoning both the journalists.
While the Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, appealed journalist fraternity to verify before publication any information which has bearing on ‘national security’ and can cause ‘social unrest’.
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