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Ghaziabad hate crime: PCI concerned over police FIR against journalists, news organisations

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 New Delhi: The Press Club of India has expressed concern over the FIRs against various journalists, activists, and news organizations over reports on a physical assault on an elderly Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.

The video of the elderly man being physically assaulted on June 5 while on his way to offer prayers at a mosque, was shared by various Twitter handles and news portals. In the viral video, Abdul Samad, 72 years old, had alleged that the attackers had also cut off his beard, and beat him up while forcing him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

“The follow-up news stories and tweets on the basis of incidents which were already in the public domain in no way violate public order, spread hatred and social tensions as alleged in the FIR,” the PCI said in a statement.

The FIR, filed at 11:20 pm on June 15 has named AltNews journalist Mohammad Zubair, journalist Rana Ayub, media organisation The Wire, Congress’s Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani and Shama Mohamed, writer Saba Naqvi and social media giant Twitter INC and Twitter Communications India PVT.

“The filing of the FIR clearly shows vendetta of Ghaziabad police to create a sense of state terror in the media and society at large,” reads the statement signed by PCI president Umakant Lakhera and secretary general Vinay Kumar.

The charges in the FIR include provocation for rioting, promoting enmity between different group, acts intended to outrage religious feelings, and criminal conspiracy among others.

Ghaziabad Police later also ruled out any communal angle to this attack and has arrested a Muslim man who claimed to have helped the elderly man who was allegedly attacked.

The PCI has demanded the quashing of the FIR against journalists and “further urged all journalist organizations to raise their voice against such vendetta politics and highhandedness against independent media personalities and organizations.”

“Press Club of India stands with the truth and the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression. A further appeal to the Uttar Pradesh government to intervene and ensure that journalists are not made easy targets of police high handedness through filing of FIRs,” the statement added.

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