Editors Guild condemns FIR against journalist for exposing chinks in UP's Mid-Day meal scheme

The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Monday condemned Uttar Pradesh government's action of filing an FIR under serious sections of criminal law against journalist Pawan Jaiswal.

The FIR was filed against Jaiswal for his report where he highlighted that only 'rotis' and salt were being served to the school children under the Mid-Day Milk scheme at Siyur primary school, Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.

In an official statement, EGI said: "It is a cruel and classic case of shooting the messenger. It is precisely exposes such as these that show how valuable free and fearless journalists are to a democratic society. It is shocking that instead of taking action to fix what is wrong on the ground, the government has filed criminal cases against the journalist."

The EGI further said that even if the government believes that Jaiswal's report is wrong, there are easy and conventional redresses available. Using the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and police is no way to respond to this.

The EGI has urged that the state government to withdraw these cases forthwith and ensure that the journalist is not put to any further harm or harassment.

"The Guild also expresses grave concern over recent incidents of restrictions on the overseas travel of journalists. The latest being the denial of travel permission at the airport for journalist Gowhar Geelani, who works for a German media organisation," said the EGI in the statement.

"The law does indeed give the government such powers but only in the rarest of rare cases and following due procedure and disclosure. There must be transparency in these decisions," the statement added.

EGI has urged the government not to create a situation where the constitutionally and legally mandated freedom of media representatives is compromised.