Lawfare, Defamation – Journalists

A journalist from Haryana’s Hisar district has been charged with defamation and illegal trespassing by the police for a report showing the mishandling of grains at a government storage facility, in the latest blow to press freedom in the country.

A First Information Report or FIR has been filed against Anoop Kundu on September 8 at the Uklana police station in Hisar district. Mr Kundu was investigating irregularities at the State Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department in Uklana. The complainant, Assistant Food and Supplies Officer Sandeep Chahal, claimed that the story by the journalist carried a fake video that has been used to defame the department and its officials.

However, the journalist has maintained that his report was accurate and when it aired on his channel, he even received compliments from the food and civil supplies minister Karan Dev Kamboj. After a protest by local journalists against the filing of the case against Mr Kundu, the district administration has promised that the case will be investigated again.