Malini Subramaniam examines the challenges before journalists in speaking truth to power. A special focus from Free Speech Collective (FSC) as Jharkhand goes to the polls for its sixth Assembly elections since the formation of the state in 2000.
Jharkhand Assembly Elections: Will Free Speech be a Casualty?
The young and mineral-rich state of Jharkhand carved out of Bihar in 2000 will soon have its 6th Legislative Assembly elections in two phases on 13 and 20 November 2024, to elect the state’s 81 legislators. The results will be declared on November 23, 2024.
In this state, where Adivasis comprise 26.21 per cent of the population, the election is being largely fought between two coalitions – Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, including the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as well as Left parties and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). Although the JMM-led coalition completed its term (2019-2024), it was marred by change in the leadership following the arrest of Chief Minister Hemant Soren (from February to July 2024) in a money laundering case.
The state battles multiple development challenges including multidimensional poverty, high instance of malnutrition, unemployment, low literacy, distress migration, development induced displacement, coupled with high levels of corruption as well as political instability.
All of this pose an immense challenge for reporters, journalists, YouTube journalists and influencers who seek to speak truth to power.
FIR slapped against journalists based on complaints by those sending threats from jail
Take for instance the case of Prabhat Khabar, a leading Hindi language daily news publication from Patna, for publishing news on illegal sale of liquor in the state. Based on the report, the Enforcement Directorate had one Jogendra Tiwari, member of the liquor mafia, sent to jail after a raid. Clearly a highly influential person, Tiwari was able to send death threats to Ashutosh Chaturvedi, chief editor of Prabhat Khabar, while he was still lodged in Birsa Munda prison.
When brought to the notice of concerned officials, Ranchi police instead filed an FIR under IPC sections 469 (forgery for harming reputation), 501 and 502 (print and sale of matter for defamation) against the chief editor Ashutosh Chaturvedi, resident editor, Vijay Kant Pathak and the managing director, Rajeev Jhawar, based on a complaint filed by the same person who was sending threats.
Demand for Journalists Protection Act
“Journalists in Jharkhand have faced immense challenge in several ways over the last decade – being slapped with cases of defamation, false cases of corruption, extortion, threats from liquor and sand mafia, are all common,” informed Amrit Lal, general secretary of Press Club in Ranchi and state head of Jharkhand Journalists Association (JJA), while speaking to FSC.
“And it is to counter these extensive attacks and repression of journalists across the state that compelled us to demand a Journalists Protection Act,” said Amrit Lal. When asked how this would benefit journalists or offer protection from the ongoing attacks and harassments from vested interests, he said JJA has recommended a committee formed of both police personnel and journalists to give the journalists a fair investigation.
Challenges of reporting from conflict areas
Another serious threat journalists face is while covering anti-Adivasi projects or initiatives by the government or even covering stories on Naxalite activities, as threats are from both sides – the Naxal groups as well as the police and administration, elaborated Amar Kant.
The arrest of Rupesh Kumar Singh, an independent Journalist, covering news of Adivasi Rights violations reflects the severity of reporting in the conflict areas of Jharkhand. Singh, considered to be an ‘eye-sore’ for the government was slapped with Sections 10 and 13 of the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as well as IPC sections 420 (Cheating), 467, 468 and 471 (related to committing forgery) and arrested after a nine-hour long search in his house that started in the wee hours of July 22, 2022. Singh’s numbers were also listed in the surveillance list under the spyware Pegasus. As the case drags on, Singh continues to languish in prison.
Physical Assaults on journalists
Data collected by FSC reveals that, apart from arrest of journalists, the brutal attacks against journalists, are of grave concern, landing them in hospitals for a long duration.
As per the data gathered by FSC between 2021-24,
- a video journalist Baijnath Mahta was brutally attacked in 2021 by unknown assailants. It was unclear if there was a motive behind his attack, the police were still gathering facts.
- Jamshedpur journalist Anwar Sharief, a senior video reporter from News 11 was mercilessly beaten by unknown assailants in the early hours of 19 September 2023. What appears to be religiously motivated as the assailants raised religious slogans before leaving, the journalists in Jamshedpur were upset over the lackadaisical attitude of the police in its action against the incident. . In both instances, journalists sought speedy action against the culprits as it chilled reporters from stepping out in the night to do their work.
- Mahadev Kumar Das, a corresponded of Dainik Nav Pradesh, a social media news portal, was assaulted by land mafia against whom he had filed and published reports. Das brought this to the immediate notice of the Navalshadhi police station of Koderma district and filed an FIR, for which he was targeted the same evening at his residence. He escaped the attack as he had been out on work.
- reporter Avinash Mandal was beaten by mafia running illegal lottery sale on January 16, 2024, after Mondal published related stories on his web portal. He managed to file a Fir against the six people who assaulted him.
Apart from the attacks, there are other challenges to freedom of expression in Jharkhand. They include:
Frequent internet shutdowns
Hemant Soren’s government has been infamous for its frequent internet shutdowns, severely hampering digital communication for citizens. Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC), India, that keeps track of internet shutdowns across the country notes that, in this year alone, Jharkhand has had 8 shutdowns.
The government’s September 2024 order for an internet shutdown throughout the state of Jharkhand on 22 September 2024 to “contain paper leaks , spread of fake news on the subject” and “to maintain integrity of the recruitment process” to enable the government to fairly conduct the Jharkhand General Graduate Level Competitive Examinations, 2023 was stayed by the Jharkhand High Court.
Following a public interest litigation challenging the shutdown, Justices Ananda Sen and Anubha Rawat Choudhary, turned down the government order citing “disturbed balance between public at large and the concern of the State to conduct a proper examination.”
The case comes up again on November 14, and the judges directed that, “without the leave of this Court, no internet facility, in whatever form, will be suspended henceforth within the State of Jharkhand on the ground of conducting any examination.”
Media target of state anger in a vicious political campaign
Use of social media platforms to spread misinformation is a known devil, but the manner in which social media platforms would be used for political disinformation to run down a candidate through “shadow advertisements” came to light recently in a research report of a study undertaken by several civil society organizations under the Tech-Justice project.
The report revealed how Meta, the most popular social media platform was used by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a major contestant in the upcoming elections, to push “a network of shadow accounts to post ‘communally divisive content and attack ads’ spending lakhs of rupees. This is in complete violation of ‘electoral law and Meta’s own policies on political advertising’ stated the report. These ads demonized Hemant Soren, the report said. The report records creation of 87 such shadow pages on Meta that had a spiraling circulation.
However, in a situation of biased media reportage, the axe falls on free speech per se. An insecure Soren government, feeling the heat, behaved no differently. In August 2022, the Soren government made threatening calls to media houses if his name is linked to the person against whom ED raids were being made that led to the recovery of two AK rifles. This was two years before Soren’s arrest in July 2024.
Currently, the campaign for the upcoming elections is a war of words. As far as campaigning goes, it is a free for all, as the opposition BJP urges the people of Jharkhand to thrown away the Hemant Soren for enabling infiltrators or calling the Hemant Soren government a burnt transformer and the JMM led government accuses the Centre of not having the guts to fight him from the front.
Either way, it remains to be seen if freedom of expression in this resource rich state with the second highest rate of ‘multi-dimensional” poverty, is the ultimate casualty.
