(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced deep concern at the likely damage to press freedom from a ban on Maoist groups adopted by the state government in Chhattisgarh, central India, under which journalists could be jailed for up to three years for covering their rebellion. On 5 September 2005, the state government adopted a Special People’s […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced deep concern at the likely damage to press freedom from a ban on Maoist groups adopted by the state government in Chhattisgarh, central India, under which journalists could be jailed for up to three years for covering their rebellion.
On 5 September 2005, the state government adopted a Special People’s Security Ordinance that bans the Communist Party of India – Maoist (CPI-M), which has been fighting a guerrilla war since 1980, and 32 other pro-Maoist groups. The full list has yet been published, but it could include media outlets.
The draft ordinance must now be ratified by the state governor, Sushil Kumar Shinde, and then the president of the Indian Union. It was introduced a few days after a landmine blast in which 24 police officers died.
At a joint press conference on 5 September by the home minister and the state police chief to present the new ordinance, officials threatened to arrest journalists who interview Maoists and shut down or confiscate the property of media outlets seen to be supporting the rebels.
“You can’t fight an armed rebellion by stopping journalists from talking about it,” said RSF. “The Chhattisgarh government is committing a serious violation of press freedom by imposing a news blackout on the Maoist movement. If the ordinance is adopted in the state, it will block all independent news coverage in the regions affected by the Maoist rebellion.”
“We urge the Chhattisgarh governor and the president of the Indian Union not to approve this ordinance out of respect for the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression,” the organisation added.
Baliram Kashyap, a member of parliament from the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), created an uproar on 1 September after a local newspaper reported that he had said, in the presence of journalists, that “journalists who glorify Maoists should be killed.” The nationalist politician added that in the days ahead the government should jail journalists who travel to areas controlled by the Maoists, also known as Naxalists.
Several journalists in the state capital Raipur told RSF that the draft law was a serious blow for free expression. “Journalists working in zones where the Maoists are active come under huge pressure from the security forces,” said Ruchir Garg, who works for the national television channel Sahara.
Alok Putul, editor of the regional daily “Deshbandhu”, reminded RSF that in 2004 the home minister ordered police to use any means necessary to prevent the spread of news about the Maoists.
