Arrest of journalists condemnable: SUCI(C)

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) on Wednesday condemned the arrest of journalists at the behest of the Union government.

They were probably referring to the arrest of the website NewsClick’s founder and editor-inchief Prabir Purkayastha and the company’s head of human resources Amit Chakravarty for allegedly receiving funding from China.

SUCI(C) Karnataka Secretary K Uma said that the arrests of scribes were reminiscent of the Emergency.

“We vehemently condemn the raid conducted in the houses of well-known journalists, stand-up comics, satirists and commentators in Delhi in the early morning yesterday, and interrogating them in matters ‘related to terror links’ in a case involving the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) reminding us of swoops on newspersons during the Emergency in 1975,” she said.

“The BJP government has refused to give any explanation on this act of the police. This fresh incursion reaffirms the truth that freedom of expression is under grave threat in the fascist autocratic rule of the BJP. We join the rightthinking people of the country and the media fraternity in registering our severe protest against such an undemocratic act of the government,” she added.