New Delhi, 14 February 2024: The Indian Journalists Union expresses grave concern over the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) directing The Caravan, to take down the story titled “Screams from the Army Post”. The Ministry asked for the removal of the story within 24 hours citing Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. This said the union amounts to curtailing freedom of the press and the citizen’s right to information.  

The URL containing story apparently was taken down because of following order of the ministry under the said section and the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The story dealt with the torture of civilians by the Indian Army in the heavily militarised Jammu and Kashmir. Hartosh Singh Bal, Executive Editor of the journal, said: “this is a fundamental challenge to our right to report the truth, the citizens right to know the truth. It cannot and will not go uncontested.” We urge all media organizations to take up this issue. The Caravan has said that the order’s content is confidential and that they would challenge it.

In a statement IJU President and former member of Press Council of India Geetartha Pathak and IJU Secretary General and Vice President of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Sabina Inderjit said the Ministry’s order amounted to arm-twisting the journal and worse denied the media of carrying out its duty of keeping the citizens well-informed. This trend of clamping down on reports and articles is becoming a rule rather than an exception and the government must desist from such actions.