‘Vindictive; malafide intentions’

The Wire’s founder Siddharth Varadarajan at his house during the search, in New Delhi, on Monday. Pic/PTI

The CPI(M) and DIGIPUB News India Foundation on Tuesday condemned the searches carried out by the Delhi police at the offices of news portal, The Wire, and the houses of its editors. The cops carried out searches at the houses of The Wire's founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and deputy editor M K Venu on Monday, following a complaint from BJP leader Amit Malviya. The complaint was regarding a series of stories The Wire published about Meta, which claimed that Malviya had special censorship privileges.

"The Wire admitted it had erred and withdrew stories. To snatch devices and launch criminal proceedings on a defamation complaint by BJP's IT cell chief is vindictiveness and intimidation. No wonder India is among the bottom 30 countries on the World Press Freedom Index," CPI (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted.

"A journalist or a media organisation that publishes a false report ought to be held accountable by its peers and civil society. But for the police to carry out an immediate and arbitrary search of the media house's office and its editors' homes, based entirely on a private complaint of defamation filed by a spokesperson of the ruling party, smacks of malafide intentions," DIGIPUB stated. The Wire had retracted the articles last month, claiming that it was deceived by a member of its investigative team.

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