Opposition MPs alleged Assam Police is “harassing” senior journalists Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar using Section 152 of the BNS, a law they termed a rebranded sedition provision.
A joint statement by leaders including Jairam Ramesh, John Brittas, and Ram Gopal Yadav demanded immediate withdrawal of what they called “malafide cases” against the journalists.
The Editors Guild of India also expressed concern, urging police to avoid actions that cast doubt on their intent, while the summons warned of arrest for non-compliance.
Opposition MPs on Thursday voiced their alarm over the alleged "harassment" of veteran journalists Karan Thapar and Siddharth Varadarajan by Assam Police and called for the quick retraction of "malicious cases" against them.
John Brittas of the CPI(M), Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress were among the MPs who accused the BJP government in Assam of "misusing rebranded sedition laws" to stifle dissent and intimidate independent voices.
According to the notifications, senior journalists Varadarajan and Thapar have been called by the Guwahati Police in relation to a case filed on sedition allegations.
On August 22, the two journalists are scheduled to appear before the Guwahati Police's Crime Branch.
"We are extremely concerned by the Assam Police's harassment of Siddharth Varadarajan, Karan Thapar, and other journalists associated with The Wire, as they have misused Section 152 of BNS to file multiple criminal cases against them, which carry the threat of life imprisonment," the opposition MPs said in a joint statement.
"The summons to journalists is a blatant attack on press freedom and democracy itself. The BJP government in Assam is misusing rebranded sedition laws to intimidate independent voices and silence criticism. We strongly condemn this and demand its withdrawal," they said.
"We call upon the police to immediately withdraw these malafide cases and for an end to the use of Section 152 against the media," the MPs said.
People like Mukul Wasnik, Shaktisinh Gohil, Syed Naseer Hussain, Renuka Chiwdhury, Javed Ali Khan, A A Rahim, Anil Kumar Yadav, V Sivadasan, and R Girirajan signed the statement in addition to Ramesh, Brittas, and Yadav.
The Editors Guild of India has also voiced serious concerns about Varadarajan and Thapar's summons and asked the Assam Police to avoid doing anything that would raise any suspicions about their genuine motivations.
The same summons said, "It is revealed that there are reasonable grounds to question you to ascertain the facts and circumstances from you, about the present investigation." Regarding the matter, the police have not disclosed any information. Senior police officers were called repeatedly to inquire about the situation, but no one replied.
Thapar received the summons on Monday, whilst Varadarajan received it on August 14.
"Failure to attend/comply with the terms of this notice can render you liable for arrest," the summons added.
Section 152 of BNS addresses acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. It effectively replaced Section 124A of the IPC, which was put on hold by the Supreme Court in May 2022.
