New Delhi, 5 July 2023: The Indian Journalists Union joins its affiliate the Andhra Pradesh Media Federation in severely condemning the arrest of four media representatives -- N. Sunil Chakravarthy (Camera News), A.V. Suryanarayana (Prime9 News), Reporters Chanti Venkataratnam and A. Balakrishna, in false cases by the police in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday July 2. The Union demands that the cases filed under dubious information, be withdrawn immediately and freedom of press be respected.  

New Delhi, 5 July 2023: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) expresses serious concern over the life-threatening attack on Shivam Arya, a journalist working for a regional news channel in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district on Saturday last. While the police are ascertaining the reason behind the attack, the Union said it was clearly pre-planned and a thorough investigation was critical to apprehend the three suspects immediately. 

New Delhi, 13 June 2023: Journalist Nilesh Sharma was arrested from Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district on Sunday for allegedly “spreading rumours on WhatsApp” about government and judiciary officers. Sharma is the editor of web portal and magazine India Writers.   

New Delhi, 23 May 2023: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) joins its affiliate, the All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) in condemning the assault on three journalists by security forces in Manipur. Security personnel of the Jat regiment and other Central forces physically assaulted the journalists covering the resurgence of violence at New Checkon, Imphal on Monday. The Union demanded immediate suspension of the security persons involved. 

New Delhi, 7 May 2023: The Indian Journalists Union condemns the arrest of Times Now Navbharat channel’s journalist Bhawana Kishore, her colleague Mrityunjay Kumar, and driver Parminder Singh, for allegedly hitting a woman with their car and using ‘casteist slurs’ at her at an AAP event they were to cover. However, the channel claimed the arrest was connected to its reporting on the renovation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence. 

New Delhi, 7 April 2023: The Indian Journalists Union expresses deep concern over the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology notifying the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, without consulting the stakeholders. The amended rules confer power to notify a fact check unit of the Central Government that will identify fake or false or misleading online content in respect to any business of the Central Government [Rule 3(1)(b)(v)]. This, says the IJU will impact freedom of speech and expression online and the right of the citizens to make an informed decision.

New Delhi, 5 April 2023: The Indian journalists Union hails the Supreme Court order quashing the Centre’s telecast ban on news and current affairs channel, MediaOne, saying that its critical views against government policies can’t be termed as anti-establishment as an independent press is necessary for robust democracy. It ordered that the channel would continue its operations as was prior to the ban of telecast. 

New Delhi, 22 March, 2023: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) expresses serious concern at the arrest of Haryana’s Fatehabad-based journalist Jaspal Singh. He was arrested on charges of spreading false news to ‘defame’ a local BJP MLA Lakshman Napa, as well as violating the SC-ST Act and IT Act. The arrest came after the MLA’s son filed a complaint against Singh, accusing him of intentionally spreading false information about his father.

New Delhi, 21 March 2023: The Indian Journalists Union condemns the arrest of a reporter for a You Tube channel Sanjay Rana, in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district, after he posed several questions to a Minister over her unfulfilled promises of development work during a function in the village on March 11. Rana was granted bail after spending 30-odd hours in police custody!

New Delhi, 14 February 2023: The Indian Journalists Union condemns in the strongest terms the IT raids conducted on the BBC’s New Delhi and Mumbai offices. The action, said the Union, smacks of vendetta against the broadcaster as it comes weeks after it aired “India: The Modi Question,” a two-part documentary critical of Prime Minister Modi, who was then Chief Minister of Gujarat during the 2002 riots.

New Delhi, 20 January 2023: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has expressed profound concern over government’s draft amendment to IT Rules 2021, which asks social media companies to take down articles which the Press Information Bureau, under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, deems as ‘fake’ or ‘false’. The Union said the amendment would impact freedom of speech and expression and amount to censoring online content and must be withdrawn immediately.