Journalists, activists march against arrest of Kanojia

Scribes under the aegis of five prominent journalist and editors bodies on Monday held a protest here against the arrest of two journalists and head of a TV news channel by Uttar Pradesh police allegedly for sharing “objectionable content” against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Twitter.

They took out a protest march here demanding immediate dropping of charges against the three— Prashant Kanojia, a freelance journalist, Anuj Shukla, editor of Noida-based TV channel Nation Live and the channel's head Ishika Singh— and their release from custody.

The agitating journalists called the arrest of the two journalists and the channel head as an attack on the freedom of expression.

Prashant's wife Jagisha Arora, who earlier in the day filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court seeking immediate release of her husband and departmental actions against the police officers for “blatant illegality,” also joined the protest.

"My husband's arrest is absolutely illegal and unconstitutional. So, now, people can get arrested for writing something on social media and using humour."she said.

The protest was held under the joint aegis of the Editors Guild of India, Press Club of India, Indian Women Press Corps, South Asian Women in the Media and Press Association.

"Today, journalists can get arrested for using humour and irony in a social media post. This incident is a direct attack on freedom of expression," Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of news portal The Wire, said.

The Supreme Court will hear the petition filed by Kanojia's wife on Tuesday.