"UP Police's Track Record Of Filing FIRs...": Editors Guild On Assault

"It is the duty of journalists to report on the basis of sources and in case facts become contested later on, to reporting the emerging versions and facets," the Editors Guild of India sid

The Editors Guild of India has condemned filing of police complaints against the news website The Wire and several journalists for their tweets on the assault of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad. The Editors Guild of India condemns the filing of First Information Reports (FIRs) by the Uttar Pradesh Police against The Wire and several other journalists, for their tweets on an assault on an elderly Muslim man in Ghaziabad on June 5th. pic.twitter.com/u17KMkYb42 "...In the video that was posted by those charged, the man is seen alleging that he was beaten up by some people and was forced him to chant 'Jai Shree Ram'. Several media organisations and journalists, besides the ones charged by the police, posted this video on their social media feeds," the Editors Guild said in a statement today. "Subsequently, there was an alternate version offered by the UP Police claiming the assault was borne out of a dispute regarding a talisman the elderly man had sold to some people, which was also reported by these media organisations and journalists," the Editors Guild said, highlighting the news organisations and journalists only carried what the man claimed and later also took the police's version, as is the case with any other report. The Editors Guild said it is "deeply concerned by the UP Police's track record of filing FIRs against journalists to deter them from reporting serious incidents without fear of reprisals."