DIGIPUB, PCI, IWPC Flay FIR on Journalist Ajit Anjum For Video on Bihar SIR

New Delhi: Digital news media collective DIGIPUB, journalist groups and such as Press Club of India (PCI) and Indian Women’s Press Corp (IWPC) have condemned and demanded withdrawal of the FIR lodged against well-known independent journalist Ajit Anjum for his video exposing irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list in Bihar.
 

Anjum, an award-winning journalist, who runs a YouTube channel watched by millions of viewers, is in Bihar and has been doing ground reports from there. The FIR was lodged on July 13 at the Ballia police station in Begusarai, and accuses him of spreading misinformation, among other things.

Terming the FIR as not just an attack on an individual journalist, DIGIPUB in a statement, said , “….it is a direct assault on independent journalism and the public’s right to know the truth. While reporting from the ground on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) process in Begusarai, Ajit Anjum highlighted exactly what the people on the ground shared with him. According to him, he was trying to bring out the facts related to SIR. However, this honest effort appears to have displeased the government and administration,”

It also pointed to the press release that the Begurasai district administration had issued prior to the FIR, calling Anjum’s reportage “misleading”. 

DIGIPUB said “these vague allegations are neither credible nor reason enough for an FIR. Either authorities should learn to provide accurate and factual information to journalists’ queries or step aside when journalists find information on their own with no cooperation from a democratic machinery that should be providing transparency but seldom does.”

The digital news collective termed the action as appearing to be “a systematic and deliberate attempt to silence the press and suppress inconvenient truths”.

“This FIR, in our view, is nothing but a cover-up for institutional failures, and we strongly oppose it. We stand in solidarity with Ajit Anjum and with every journalist who has the courage to speak the truth,” DIGIPUB said.

It also noted that the FIR was an attempt to not just “intimidate” Anjum but all independent journalists “who dare to report from the ground.”

The PCI and IWPC, while highlighting the “long-standing record of responsible and impactful reporting” by Anjum, said, “Instead of issuing clarification (Anjum’s video had brought to light certain irregularities in SIR) , the administration chose to take legal recourse resulting in the lodging of an FIR “against the senior journalist.

“We call upon the authorities that due process is followed and the rights of Mr Anjum as a journalist and as a citizen are fully protected.’ Read the joint statement.

Anjum, whose video uploaded on July 12, showed how during the SIR process launched by the Election Commission of India, several voter forms were incomplete and were being filled and uploaded without the ECI’s required documents or photographs at a centre in Ballia. He has been booked under Sections such as criminal trespass, disobeying a lawful order, preventing a public servant from doing their duty and attempting to hurt religious feelings of the BNS, as well as sections of the Representation of Peoples Act.

Anjum, however, said he stood by his reports, which were only pointing out the irregularities that hurt the democratic process of elections. In a post on X, he said, “I, as a conscious journalist, had shown how the Election Commission of India’s rules were not being followed. I have not revealed the identity of anyone, nor have I shown any close shots of the enumeration forms. Rather than taking action against its own official they lodged an FIR against me. But I’m not one to be cowed down,” adding that he would follow the due process of law and seek legal remedies, if needed.

The Janvadi Lekhak Sangh has also expressed solidarity with Anjum and has appealed to the ECI and the Bihar government to stop any attempts to obstruct and intimidate independent journalism.