Delhi: Early morning raids on journalists; Press Club of India expresses concern

File Photo

Delhi Police's Special Cell Tuesday morning conducted raids at the premises of news organisation NewsClick and its journalists, triggering outrage on social media platforms. PTI reported quoting officials that Delhi Police has registered a new case and started investigations.

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier conducted raids at the firm's premises probing its sources of funding. The Special Cell is now raiding the media firm on the basis of inputs provided by the central agency.

Officials in the know said police have recovered the dump data from laptops and mobile phones of some journalists of NewsClick. Some journalists have been brought to the Lodhi Road Special Cell office, but no one has been arrested so far, they said.

Abhisar Sharma, a senior journalist, wrote on X, "Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and phone." Another journalist, Bhasha Singh, wrote on X, "Finally last tweet from this phone. Delhi police seizure (sic) my phone."

Besides Sharma, senior journalist Bhasha Singh, veteran journalist Urmilesh, Newsclick editor Prabir Purkayastha and writer Githa Hariharan, renowned journalist and commentator on the political economy Aunindyo Chakravarty, activist and historian Sohail Hashmi, and satirist and stand-up comic Sanjay Rajaura were ‘raided' early this morning, reports said.

Also read: Mumbai: Agents accused of charging devotees for queue jumping at Siddhivinayak Temple

Reacting to the developments, The Press Club of India said it is deeply concerned about raids on the houses of journalists and writers associated with NewsClick.

"The Press Club of India is deeply concerned about the multiple raids conducted on the houses of journalists and writers associated with #Newsclick. We are monitoring the developments and will be releasing a detailed statement. "The PCI stands in solidarity with the journalists and demands the government to come out with details," it said.

India has been falling sharply and by a huge number of ranks down the World Press Freedom Index and is currently in the bottom 20 countries. It is among the lowest ranked in the G20 countries too, as far as Press Freedom is concerned. Democratic backsliding has been recorded by all global indices, Freedom House, V-Dem, and the Economist index regularly since 2015. (With inputs from agencies)