Editors Guild moves SC as Manipur books its journalists

The Supreme Court on September 6, 2023, agreed to hear a plea of the Editors Guild of India (EGI), whose Manipur fact-finding team is facing the risk of arrest from the State. 
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

The Supreme Court on September 6, 2023, agreed to hear a plea of the Editors Guild of India (EGI), whose Manipur fact-finding team is facing the risk of arrest from the State.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan made an urgent mention before the Chief Justice of India on behalf of the EGI. He submitted that the senior editors and journalists, who were part of a fact-finding team that reported on “bias” in the local news reports in Manipur, are facing the risk of arrest and coercive action. Mr. Divan sought protection of the court.

Chief Justice Chandrachud, after consulting with his Associate Judges on the Bench, told Mr. Divan to keep the papers of the case ready for taking up shortly today.

The Manipur police have registered a case against the Editors Guild of India (EGI) for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups, under Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), after the latter published a report on media’s reportage of the ethnic violence in Manipur on September 2.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh also confirmed that his government had filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the president and three members of the EGI and accused them of trying to provoke clashes in the State.

Besides EGI President Seema Mustafa, those who were booked are three senior journalists — Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor — who visited the State between August 7 and 10 to study media reportage on the ethnic violence.

The EGI report stated that there is extreme pressure on journalists whether Meitei or tribal, to reflect the dominant view of their ethnic societies and the situation was made more difficult with the ban on the Internet, that is an essential tool of modern journalism.

It said that the “ethnic divide in the media was so deep that news stories, as well as editorials, began to blame Assam Rifles for protecting the Kuki tribals.” The Kuki-Zo people were described as “narco-terrorists” trying to enlarge their space in land strapped Manipur by liberally using drug money.

“During the ethnic violence, journalists of Manipur wrote one-sided reports. In normal circumstances, they would be cross-checked and monitored by their editors or chiefs of bureaus from the local administration, police and security forces. However, this was not possible during the conflict….Meitei media became a party to the vilification of the security forces, especially the Assam Rifles,” the report said.