SHILLONG: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has condemned the arrest of Noida-based journalist, Prashant Kanojia, and the editor and head of a NOIDA-based television channel, Nation Live – Ishita Singh and Anuj Shukla- by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Kanojia has been accused of uploading a post on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media and the Nation Live head and editor have been charged with having aired the video.
“The police action is high-handed, arbitrary and amounts to an authoritarian misuse of laws. The Guild sees it as an effort to intimidate the press, and stifle freedom of expression,” the EGI said in a statement.
“The FIR in this case is also not filed by the person allegedly affected but suo motu by the police. This is a condemnable misuse of law and state power,” it said.
The EGI also reiterated its demand to decriminalise the defamation law.