Police in India book journalists after posts on alleged Muslim lynching

While no arrests have been made, media watchdogs say the act may have a ‘chilling effect’ on journalists doing their job.

Media watchdogs in India have accused the police in Uttar Pradesh state of “grave overreach” for filing cases against journalists after they wrote about the alleged lynching of a Muslim man last week in social media posts.

Police in the northern state’s Shamli district charged two journalists – Wasim Akram Tyagi and his cousin Zakir Ali Tyagi – for commenting on the killing of Firoz Qureshi in the district’s Jalalabad town.

The journalists were charged with causing “hatred and anger” in society. Three other Muslims who shared their social media posts were also named in the first information report (FIR) filed by the police. None of them have been arrested so far.

Wasim, a reporter with Hind News newspaper in Dehli, told Al Jazeera on Thursday he was “shocked” when he heard that charges had been filed against him over the alleged lynching.

“Now, as journalists, if we can’t call murder a murder, what should we call it, then? If a journalist is not going to raise questions, who will? … If we are going to be charged for this, it raises questions on press freedom,” the 36-year-old told Al Jazeera.

“The impact this will have is that anytime you write something, you will have to think twice: What if an FIR is filed over writing this or that?”

Indian police launch criminal investigation into 2 journalists under new penal code@ZakirAliTyagi @WasimAkramTyagi https://t.co/DRVQAyz3LQ

— CPJ Asia (@CPJAsia) July 10, 2024

Zakir, 25, also rejected the police charges, saying he merely disseminated information that had already been shared by the Qureshi family. He said he was “not surprised” by the FIR against him.

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