In a statement, The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan said the portal will “not be intimidated” and that this case, like three others previously filed by the UP police in different matters, is “baseless”.
An FIR was filed against ‘The Wire’, a media house, in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki, and three of its journalists have been booked on a documentary on the demolition of a mosque there for flaring up “religious enmity.”
The FIR was lodged for a documentary titled ‘How a Mosque in U.P.’s Barabanki was Demolished’, which showed members of the committee of the demolished mosque terming the administrative act illegal and claiming that they had documents to prove the structure was legal, The Hindu reported.
The Barabanki administration, in May, after carrying out the demolition, without making a reference to any mosque, said an “illegal residential complex” was found situated opposite to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate’s residence in the Ramsanehi Ghat tehsil compounds. The Allahabad High Court recently issued notices to the administration on the demolition after petitions were filed before it terming the administrative act illegal and arbitrary.
Adarsh Singh, District Magistrate Barabanki, said “The news portal shared a video documentary on their Twitter handle on June 23 that makes baseless and false statements. The video makes illogical arguments, including that the administration defiled the religious texts of a particular religion and threw then into a drain. Nothing of this sort happened. The Wire has tried to spread discord in the society by saying these things and tried to spread communal disharmony,”
In a statement, The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan said the portal will “not be intimidated” and that this case, like three others previously filed by the UP police in different matters, is “baseless”.
“The Adityanath government does not believe in media freedom and is criminalizing the work of journalists who are reporting what is happening in the state,” he said according to The Indian Express
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The three journalists named in the FIR were Seraj Ali, Mohammed Anees, and Mukul Chauhan. The case was filed under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 505 (1) (b) (intent to cause or likely to cause fear or alarm among the public), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
This case comes days after another case was filed against “The Wire”, several other journalists – including Rana Ayyub and Saba Naqvi – and some Congress leaders for allegedly sharing “misleading” tweets linked to the attack of an elderly man – Abdul Samad. Twitter was also named in the FIR. This was the first case against the social media giant after new rules were implemented.
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