• About
  • News
  • Events
  • Projects
    • Grants
    • Education
    • Explore
    • Asian Stories
  • Get in touch
ic_search Created with Sketch.

JNI adviser Siddharth Varadarajan threatened with prosecution

JNI Update • Published on 17 April 2020
Share

Siddharth Varadarajan, a member of the JNI International Advisory Council, and the online news website he co-founded are being investigated by police for criticising the Chief Minister of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Varadarajan, co-founder of The Wire and former editor of The Hindu, one of India’s largest circulating newspapers, published a story showing the Chief Minister had violated the Indian Government’s official guidelines on COVID-19, by participating in a religious ceremony along with dozens of other people a day after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a national lockdown.

Two readers alleged the story was disrespectful of the Chief Minister and filed a complaint with police. Varadarajan and The Wire have been charged with six crimes: disobeying an order of a public official; spreading a rumour with intent to cause a riot; using a computer to impersonate someone; transmitting obscene material online; disobeying a public official in a time of epidemic; and, circulating a false alarm as to a disaster, leading to panic.

The Wire issued a statement that the Chief Minister’s attendance at the ceremony was a matter of public record and that the complaints are aimed at “stifling legitimate expression and factual information.”

The international Committee to Protect Journalists has called for the charges to be dropped.

“Misusing the COVID-19 lockdown to legally harass The Wire editor Siddharth Varadarajan is an attack on press freedom and an attempt to silence and discredit the journalist and the news outlet,” said Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ’s senior Asia researcher in New York. In the past year, CPJ has documented several press freedom violations in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The Chairman of JNI, Mr Jim Spigelman AC QC, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW and a former chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has signed a petition calling for the charges to be dropped.

The board of JNI urges journalists and supporters of press freedom to sign the petition.

Tags: International Advisory Council, Press Freedom
Previous article
JNI grants support freelancers across Australia
Next article
JNI’s Mark Ryan on Australia’s ‘Summer of Discontent’

Related articles

Events • 06 September 2019

Global challenges dominate Antidote festival
Scroll up arrow Back
to top
  • JNI full logo
  • Get in touch
  • Sign-up to get updates
  • Follow us Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Instagram
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • © All Rights Reserved The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas 2021

Sign-up for updates

Stay up-to-date with the latest news about the Institute's latest events and activities.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

No, thanks