Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh): On 22 August, Shishir Shukla, 32, who reports for Amrit Vichar, a Hindi-language newspaper, was out gathering news when he noticed bundles of school books in the back of a truck parked near a scrap dealer’s shop in Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh (UP), 200 km north of the state capital, Lucknow, bordering Nepal.
Shukla said he suspected education department employees or some school had sold the books as scrap instead of distributing them to the students.
Shukla sought comment from Nagendra Chaudhary, the education officer for Palia block, and sent him the video he took and posted on a WhatsApp group of local journalists.
Later that night, Shukla found out the official filed a police complaint calling for an investigation into the incident, saying the video was “leaving a negative impression not only on the image of the education department but also on that of the government and the administration”, and cited his mobile number from which he sent the video.
On 16 August, the government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in UP, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, issued a circular directing officers to fact-check "negative news" that tarnishes the government image and if they found the information on which it was based to be distorted or inaccurate, seek an explanation from the media outlets.
While Chaudhary told the Hindustan Times that his complaint was not against the Shukla, local journalists met with district authorities. They said journalists should not be involved in police proceedings merely to authenticate information because this would hinder their reporting responsibilities.
Given the government crackdown on reporters since the BJP came to power in 2017 in UP and the recent circular against “negative news”, some outlets reported the FIR was lodged against Shukla.
Rattled to find his mobile number in the FIR, which led him to believe it was registered against him, Shukla said, “I have never faced such a situation to date.”
The BJP government has arrested or booked as many as 66 journalists in UP from 2017 to January 2022, as per a report released by the Committee Against Attack of Journalists (CAAJ) in February 2022.
India in 2023 ranked 161, down 11 places compared to 2022, in a list of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, the lowest since 2002 when Reporters Without Borders, a global advocacy group, first published it with a list of 139 countries.
Another FIR Against Fact Checker
A few days after the events in Lakhimpur Kheri, the UP police in Muzaffarnagar registered an FIR against Alt News fact checker Mohammad Zubair, who they had previously booked in seven other cases.
After a video of a teacher in Muzaffarnagar making her students hit a classmate, a seven-year-old Muslim boy, went viral and was shared by many people on social media, the UP police booked one person, Zubair, for violating section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
“There were so many other people, including journalists, even from the right wing, who had tweeted because people wanted the administration to take action,” Zubair told Article 14.
“I’m not saying other names should be there, but they wanted to target me," said Zubair. "That is why my name is there.”
Granting bail to Zubair in July 2022, the Supreme Court observed, “As evident from the facts narrated above, the machinery of criminal justice has been relentlessly employed against the petitioner.”
“Resultantly (sic), he is trapped in a vicious cycle of the criminal process where the process has itself become the punishment,” the court said.
Whether the police would carry out an investigation right away, Zubair said, “I don’t know. They may use it now or use it later. If there are more FIRs in the future, they will accumulate and use them in the future. That is what they did last time.”
The UP Circular
In August, the UP government issued a circular directing the directorate of public relations to track “negative news” and verify the facts of such articles because they “tarnish the image of the government”. Such reports will be registered on the Integrated Grievance Redressal System of the state government and forwarded to the district magistrates to seek an explanation from the manager.
The director of information and public relations, Shishir Singh, told The Indian Express, “It is not that we are going to take any action against the newspapers. It is to verify the facts. We will do it when a news item is published on any issue.”
Singh did not respond to Article 14’s calls and texts about whether the circular would have a chilling effect on journalists. We will update the copy if he responds.
On 3 September, Article 14 phoned and texted the principal secretary to the chief minister, Sanjay Prasad, who issued the circular. We will update the copy if he responds.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior official of the state home department told Article 14, “Now there are so many media outlets, for example, television news, YouTube channels, websites, apart from several newspapers that some regulation is needed. As far as this Lakhimpur Kheri case is concerned, investigations in a proper way are on. No harm will come to the journalist if he has not done anything wrong.”
Reporting The Story
On checking with the scrap dealer, Shukla found they were mathematics workbooks of class eight of the current academic session for distributing free to the students under the central government scheme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched in 2001.
Shukla said the scrap dealer told him he bought the workbooks from another scrap dealer and was re-selling them.
Shukla said he shot photos and videos of the bundles of books on the truck. And posted them on the WhatsApp group of local journalists. They soon became viral among the journalists of Lakhimpur Kheri.
The FIR, lodged at the Palia police station under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860—cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, said: “A viral video shows a bundle of books and other things on a truck in front of a scrap dealer’s shop. The books were meant to be distributed free to students under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan. I received the video on my phone from another phone. The episode is leaving a negative impression not only on the image of the education department but also on that of the government and the administration.”
Shukla said the police took his statement on 27 August.
“Even my four-year-old son could sense something was troubling me. But I am not scared,” he said. “I will continue as a journalist. Nobody can stop me from writing. If I am sent to jail, I will report from there. If my present organisation fires me, somebody else will hire me.”
UP Journalists Under Siege
Article 14 has reported on journalists in UP facing criminal cases.
In 2019, Pawan Jaiswal, a reporter in the Mirzapur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, was booked for criminal conspiracy and cheating after he shot a video of children eating salt and roti under the mid-day meal scheme in a school in a village in the district. (Jaiswal died of cancer in May.)
Siddique Kappan was on his way to cover the alleged rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras district when the UP police arrested him on October 2020 and booked him for sedition, outraging religious feelings, raising funds and conspiring to commit terrorist activity. The journalist from Kerala was jailed for 846 days before he was released on bail on 2 February 2023.
In March this year, Sanjay Rana, a 19-year-old journalist from the Sambhal district of the state, was arrested for questioning the UP minister for secondary education, Gulab Devi, about the lack of civic amenities in the latter’s constituency.
Veteran journalist Chandrakant Naidu, who worked as an editor in leading national dailies and worked with publications like The Indian Express and Hindustan Times for over half a century, said, “The inhibition that authorities had in taking action against journalists has vanished.”
“If you look at the overall situation of the country, you will feel a slow-motion civil war is on, and it is being sponsored by the BJP,” said Naidu. “Laws are selectively being applied. Intolerance and hate crimes have become common and a viable career option, and the BJP is gaining the maximum.”
A journalist working as the only correspondent of an English daily in Lucknow had a different opinion. He said on the condition of anonymity, “Most of my articles are against the government like a Muslim man being lynched or thrashed, atrocities against Dalits with authorities taking no action, extra-judicial killings known as encounters and other police atrocities etc. Till now, no explanation has been sought from my editor."
Worried About The Circular
However, the government circular seeking an explanation for critical coverage has worried journalists in UP.
“What will happen if the district magistrate concludes that every report of mine is tarnishing the image of the state government, and he starts seeking an explanation from my editor every day,” the journalist said.
“Major Hindi dailies are not critical about the government, but they highlight things like lack of hospital facilities, frequent power cuts, decaying school buildings, bumpy roads in cities,” he said. “The principal secretary’s letter will deter them from writing such things and tame them. The Yogi government wants the people to believe everything is perfect in the state.”
A few days after the circular on “negative news”, the Yogi Adityanath government on 19 August issued another one, ordering police officials to only lodge FIRs against entrepreneurs and business owners for minor offences after a preliminary investigation.
A spokesperson said the government circular complied with directives the Supreme Court gave in Lalita Kumari vs State of UP, recommending a preliminary inquiry in case of non-cognizable offences.
The chief minister’s office said, “The Uttar Pradesh government is determined to stop harassment of entrepreneurs, businessmen, traders, owners of hospitals, hotels, educational institutions, and realtors.”
(Rohit Ghosh has been a journalist for 25 years and lives in Uttar Pradesh.)
Get exclusive access to new databases, expert analyses, weekly newsletters, book excerpts and new ideas on democracy, law and society in India. Subscribe to Article 14.