Dharna by National Union of Journalists (India) for the demand of Journalist Protection Act

New Delhi, 25 June 2012 :: The National Union of Journalists (India) today organised a nationwide dharna against the rising trend of attacks on journalists and also to press upon its demand for enactment of a comprehensive Journalist Protection Act. Dharnas were held not only in New Delhi but in all state capitals and district headquarters across the country. All state units of NUJ (I) presented memorandums to the authorities concerned.
In New Delhi the dharna was organised at Jantar Mantar. Journalists from various newspapers and TV channels attended the dharna. Prominent among those present were Metro Editor of National Dunia and national secretary general of NUJ(I) Ras Bihari, senior journalist Dr Nand Kishor Trikha, veteran journalist Rajendra Prabhu, senior journalist Harsha Vardhan, Manohar Singh from PTI, Subhash Nigam from UNI, Manoj Verma from National Dunia, Anil Pandey from Sunday Indian, Dinesh Sharma from Punjab Kesari, Pramod Saini from Organiser, Rajendra Swami from Aaj Tak, etc.
Highlighting the issues Mr Ras Bihari said the journalists were working in very miserable conditions and were everyday targeted for exposing the misdeeds of politicians, mafia gangs and criminals. He expressed concern over the retrenchment of 125 journalists from CNEB news channel and urged the Government to take effective steps for the restoration of their jobs.
Later, a high level delegation of the NUJ (I) leaders presented a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and demanded comprehensive security legislation for journalists’ protection. “Over 190 attacks on journalists have been documented in different States in the recent past. There is a need for comprehensive Journalist Protection Act with clear provisions of registering complaints in police stations on intimidation, attack or torture of journalists and also that all such complaints should be investigated by a SP/DCP level police officer. Failure to nab the culprit should be turned into a black mark on the concerned police officer’s ‘Performance Record’,” the memorandum said.
“We want that the investigation of all the complaints should be conducted within two days and action taken/ensured against the culprits. Moreover, whenever a journalist is assassinated or attacked the case should be heard in a fast track court to ensure timely justice. It is essential keeping in view the fact that no action is taken against culprits for months and sometimes years even after registration of FIR,” said Mr Manoj Verma, president of Delhi Journalists Association.
The protesters also demanded the government to take effective steps to set up a Media Council to guide the progress of the media into a robust fourth estate. “Newspapers, in most cases, apparently on the behest of their owners have stopped reporting Press Council’s decisions as they often tend to expose the weaknesses and creeping viruses in the Press. In the electronic media the so-called publishers’ regulatory bodies have been ignoring the emerging basic trends and only dealing with peripheral wrong doings. The Centre’s weakness was recently exposed when it quietly withdrew instructions to the electronic media in the context of the public concerns about certain events in the TV coverage. All this exposes the absence of a robust mechanism that is authentic voice of sanity and public concern and democracy in regard to media content. The NUJ(I) therefore strongly stresses the demand for Media Council being set up by a new law expanding the Press Council legislation to take care of the emerging media environment. We want the provisions in the proposed Media Council which not only help in keeping a watch on the media but also protects the interests of the working journalists. Such an effective body can be created within the Journalist Protection Act only,” the resolution added.