Unconscionable action against Editors Guild

The action taken by the Manipur government against the Editors Guild of India and its fact-finding team is an act of shooting the messenger, rather than reading the message and acting right on it. The government has filed FIRs against Editors Guild and the members of the team for “trying to create more clashes in the state”. Manipur has been burning for over four months. Social and political strife and violence has torn the state into two. It is ironic that the Biren Singh government, which has contributed majorly to the creation of this situation, is blaming others for it and taking action against those who have tried to find out how this situation came about. 

The government’s action actually confirms the truth of the Editors Guild report. It had found that the media based out of Imphal had “transformed into a Meitei media” and written “one-sided reports,” and misrepresented facts to forge a common ethnic narrative in favour of the Meitei. These media outlets also vilified the security forces and peddled “constant propaganda,” especially against the Assam Rifles. It found that the state leadership was “partisan”, and government institutions were divided on ethnic lines. It also found decisions of the government like the clamping and persistence of internet suspension as aggravating the situation. The role of media is very important in a situation of strife. The media establishment in the state had become a part of the Meitei establishment. The government’s refusal to accept the report and its action against its authors show how intolerant it is and how unwilling it is to introspect on its own acts of omission and commission.   

The government has charged the team and the Editors Guild with promoting enmity between groups, uttering words with deliberate intent to hurt religious feelings and statements conducive to public mischief. It had invoked a section of the IT Act which was struck down by the Supreme Court, and even a section of the Prevention of Corruption Act. It even questioned the right of the team to visit the state. The government’s actions are a blatant violation of media freedom and the right to free speech. The Supreme Court has rightly stepped in to protect the Editors Guild and its members against any coercive action based on the two FIRs. The situation in Manipur has caused concern and drawn criticism globally, including from special rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights Council. The government has said that such criticism is unwarranted and presumptuous. Rejection of all criticism and vilification and intimidation of critics has become the norm now. The Biren Singh government’s response is most undemocratic, and it should drop the charges.