In poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, the government has slapped criminal cases against journalists whose reportage is critical of the establishment, including under terror laws. The result is a chilling effect on journalism, traumatised journalists, long legal battles and shrinking space for a free press.

New Delhi/Lucknow: Ismat Ara, 23, a journalist with The Wire, covers the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) under the ever-present threat of arrest. “As long as the first information report (FIR) is there, the police can arrest me any time they wish to,” said Ara, who bears that possibility in mind every time she travels there.

The FIR was filed on 1 February 2021 at the Civil Lines police station of Rampur district in UP after Ara reported the claims of the family of a Sikh farmer who died during a tractor march to Red Fort in New Delhi on Republic Day. She and three other journalists were granted protection from arrest for two months by the Supreme Court on 8 September 2021.

The family said the young farmer had died of a bullet injury when the police fired at protesting farmers. The Delhi police said he died from injuries sustained when his tractor overturned.

Ara’s report reflected the family’s claims as well as the police’s version of events, but she was charged with spreading fake news under two sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860—153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505(2) (statements conducing to public mischief).

The Rampur police’s FIR originally named Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of The Wire, who had tweeted Ara’s story.

On 8 September, responding to a petition to quash three FIRs against The Wire’s reporters (for Ara’s report and two other cases), the SC directed the petitioners to approach the Allahabad high court, while granting a two-month reprieve. “We are aware of fundamental rights and don't want freedom of press to be muzzled,” Justice L Nageswara Rao said.

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