Lawfare, Summons/Notices – Journalists

In the neighbouring district of Mandi, journalist Ashwani Saini has been booked five times since the lockdown. Vishal Anand in Dalhousie, who is associated with a national news channel, has two FIRs on him. In Manali, Punjab Kesari’s Somdiv Sharma was booked by the police after he reported on the administration’s laxity in quarantining interstate travelers. Dainik Bhaskar’s Gauri Shankar in Kullu had a close call with an FIR after his story on famished migrant workers, accused of being “fake news” by the local sub-divisional magistrate, was proven entirely true.

The second FIR against Sharma came on April 26, when he shared a report from the Hindi daily Amar Ujala on Facebook. It claimed that the government had ordered businesses to close down for a few months in case any employee tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The report was taken down from the Amar Ujala website after the government rubbished its claim in a tweet. An FIR was filed against Sharma for simply sharing the article. He was booked under Sections 182 and 188 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act.