NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based watchdog body, has called on India to immediately release journalist Mandeep Punia and refrain from detaining and investigating members of the press covering the ongoing farmers’ protests in and around New Delhi.
’ protests in India, which is an issue of national importance,” Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ’s death risk criminalising the act of questioning a post-mortem or airing accusations against the police. Pande told CPJ that she is consulting her lawyer. CPJ texted Agha, Sardesai, Naths, and Jose for comment but did not receive any responses. CPJ said it emailed police spokespersons in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Delhi, but did not receive any responses.
Separately, Tuesday police arrested Kapil Viayan, a law student, for allegedly sending death and rape threats via Twitter to Rohini Singh, a freelance journalist and a contributor to “The Wire”, according to “The Wire” and the Hindustan Times. The Indian government has also been regularly suspending internet access in parts of Haryana and three protest sites in Delhi since January 26, according to local and international news reports.