JALANDHAR: In a pre-dawn swoop on Sunday the police seized nearly 5000 copies of daily Ajit and another 6000 copies could not be distributed while a number of copies of Aj di Awag were also seized by the police at various places in the state.
This was part of Punjab Govt’s campaign to stop the circulation of newspapers that carry what it calls “objectionable” material.
The state Govt on Feb 20 last issued an executive order authorizing district magistrates and police officials to seize objectionable material and stop its circulation. It also debarred local courts from dealing in such cases.
This is the third time the Govt has attacked the Ajit newspaper. Earlier during a similar crackdown police seized 3000 copies meant for distribution in Amritsar district on Feb 7. Again on Feb 27 the Govt did not allow the publication of the newspaper at all and seized about copies from the Ajit office and the taxis bound for various places.
Bharpur Singh chief editor of daily Aj di Awaz said nearly 10000 copies of the paper were seized by the police at various places. He said he was consulting his legal advisers.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 8, 1991
