A tale of declining press freedom in India

Writers: Mannat Kandal & Khushi Agrawal

With the second wave of COVID - 19 on a steep downward graph in India, there has been some relief for the millions of Indians who have been left gasping for breath by this deadly disease. However, as we recover from this devastating pandemic, we can't ignore the destruction of democracy that has overcome the country in the past few years. Journalism is on the ventilator, and free speech is choking. The world's largest democracy is stifling freedom of expression, and voices bold enough to be heard are being silenced forcefully. The Constitution protects media freedom in article 19(1) saying, ‘all citizens shall have the right (a) to freedom of speech and expression’. Despite this legal provision, India was ranked 142nd out of 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index by Paris - based Reporters without Borders. We thus find ourselves legitimate to question why a nation endowed with a democratic Constitution struggles to enforce its most basic values.

In the last decade, 154 journalists in India were arrested, detained, questioned, or served notices for doing their work. 40 per cent of these instances occurred in 2020. Moreover, 5 journalists were arrested in January 2021, the highest in any year since 1992. FIRs and sedition charges were filed against 10 others. A study also showed that in cases of more than 30 journalists killed since 2010, merely three convictions have been made. India is one of the top 12 countries where the murderers of journalists go free easily. I'll give you a minute to digest those stats.

Regardless, these horrific statistics have been blatantly ignored by our country's top politicians, who seem more interested in managing their image than actually taking steps to improve the conditions for journalism in India. Our government reacted vehemently to the World Press Freedom Index report, and a government-appointed panel declared in an official document that the report was a product of "western bias." Even the Indian Ambassador to France held a meeting with the representatives of RWB to upgrade India's rankings. However, in a futile public relation exercise, was there any difference made to the ground reality? I'm afraid not.

Journalism is a well-established pillar of a healthy democracy. Unfortunately, Indian journalists constantly live under the radar and are subject to criminal charges, assault and persecution for merely doing their job. This month, Asif Sultan, a Kashmiri journalist, completed 1000 days in jail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. However, the editor of his magazine and his family repeatedly said that his arrest was a consequence of a story he wrote. Last year, UP-based journalist Rakesh Singh was burnt alive by miscreants who set his house on fire, and before breathing his last, he told authorities that it was a result of his reportage against the Village Chief. Sadly, Jarnail Singh, a journalist-turned-politician, also passed away on May 14th due to Covid - 19 related complications. Nothing represents the change in India's media landscape more than the fact that a fearless reporter died on the day that 17 people were arrested for putting up posters criticising the Prime Minister. The government uses tyrannical laws such as the sedition provisions of the penal code to silence dissent. The sedition law has been in debate ever since it was brought into force by the colonial British rulers in the 1860s. It forbids any signs, visible representations, or words, spoken or written, that can cause “hatred or contempt, or excite or attempt to excite disaffection” toward the government. This language is indistinct, overbroad and breaches India’s obligations under international law, which prohibit restrictions on freedom of expression on national security grounds. Numerous topfreedom movement leaders, together with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were booked under the sedition law. Mahatma Gandhi described it as the “prince among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen.” Still, the law has survived through administrations headed by Nehru to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Along with the sedition law, the Indian military forces, utilizing restrictions on journalists’ movement and monitoring of authorities, have prohibited journalists from covering their shortcomings. For instance, journalists are constrained from being anywhere near the most heavily militarized frontiers in the world, the Line Of Control (LOC) in Kashmir, a border between India and Pakistan without military supervision. It is quite off-centre of security guards to prohibit journalists from entering the spot, claiming that there have been several surgical strikes. This act by the military force is rather misleading; the outcome of such control seems more of an obstacle to freedom of speech than a genuine matter of security. As a distraction, they then proceed to lead journalists to other locations, where they can appear in a positive light and can boast military bravery. In other words, military forces in Kashmir are in breach of the Indian constitution by showing just what they want to be shown to journalists.

Another menacing threat to journalism in India is the courts’ misuse of power. Freedom of speech has never been prioritized and efficiently protected by the Indian Supreme Court. Scholars have always been quick to describe the workings of the SC as “complicated”, “backlogged” and “understaffed”. It seems quite paradoxical for the apex court of democracy to demonstrate such an absence of determination with regards to the public interest, alongside claiming to be the main purveyor of democracy in the country. Sadly, press freedom is being threatened not only in India but also around the world. War-torn and authoritarian countries like China, Syria, Yemen, and North Korea are languishing at the bottom of the index, however, a democratic republic like India shall never have a concrete justification for disregarding the safety of its journalists. Dissent is an essential part of a democracy, and each independent voice deserves to be heard. After all, George Orwell rightly said - “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want to be printed. Everything else is public relations.”

---