The Editors Guild of India has condemned the intimidation and threat to senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan by student members of ABVP at Allahabad University this week, saying it was a "brazen attack on the freedom of expression".
Terming the action as "deplorable", the Guild said it finds such mob mentality to silence divergent views as "unacceptable".
"The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the blatant acts of intimidation and threats to Siddharth Varadarajan, Editor of The Wire, by student members of the ABVP in Allahabad University that forced the police to intervene to escort him to safety," a statement issued by Raj Chengappa, President of the Guild said.
Varadarajan was invited to deliver a lecture on "Democracy, the Media and Freedom of Expression" by the president of Allahabad University Students' Union at the varsity's senate hall on January 20.
After ABVP threatened violence in the varsity, the vice chancellor withdrew permission for the programme and the lecture was delivered at a hall near the campus.
"For a senior journalist to be threatened in such a manner at a leading university is deplorable. It is a brazen attack on freedom of expression, and the Editors Guild of India finds this mob mentality to silence those with divergent views unacceptable," the statement further said.
The Guild said that when Vardarajan went to meet the VC in his office alongwith the Students' Union president after the lecture, the ABVP surrounded the exit and the police had to escort him to safety.
