The IWPC notes with deep concern that a second FIR has also been filed by the Madhya Pradesh Police against Ms Pande and leading journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath, Anant Nath and Vinod K Jose. They are being charged with sedition, promoting enmity, communal disharmony and insulting religious beliefs, on the basis of tweets they posted on social media regarding the death of a farm protester during the violence on Republic Day.
Ms Pande and the others have duly acknowledged their genuine mistake, taken responsibility for it and deleted their posts.
The IWPC believes that the charges against Ms Pande, one of India’s senior-most journalists, who has been the editor of several leading news publications in the country, smacks of a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the situation. It is an attempt to browbeat the media and push it to fall in line.
Ms Pande and the others have risen to the top of our profession because of their impeccable integrity. They command the respect of the public across the country. To attribute malafide intent against her and the other journalists charged is a ham handed attempt at besmirching their reputation.
