CHANDIGARH: Mr Sukhdev Singh a senior journalist and editorial consultant of the Chandigarh based fortnightly ¢Dignity’ was arrested. He was remanded to judicial custody till March 19 by the Executive Magistrate M.S. Chaudhari. He was charged with 124A and 153 of I.P.C. and section 4 of the Terrorist Activities Prevention Act In a statement before the Magistrate the Journalist said that he has been charged with sedition which went against the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court in 1984. He also added that the charge was contrary to the stand of the Editor’s Guild of India that no newsman should be arrested under the said sections Dignity published the alleged seditious article in its issue of March 21986. The article was taken from the ¢Dalit Voice’ of Bangalore and was duly credited to it The article gave Dalit Voice’s view-point over the Punjab problem and held the Central Government solely responsible for the Punjab crisis The defence counsel Mr. HS. Bajwa said that it was the democratic right of the paper to give as many view points as possible for bona-fide reasons. However the paper had reproduced an already published article. It was not a journalist’s job to indulge in seditious activity or to overthrow a Government and install another Government in its place. The journalist repeatedly wrote regarding Punjab river waters civil liberties and police encounters’ State and individual terrorism as well as against the repressive policies of the Central Government their collaborators and public servants The journalist is being victimised because of his political writings against the political bosses and corrupt officers Earlier the allotment of his house was cancelled without giving him any opportunity. He was not given the accreditation even though he fulfilled all the qualifications prescribed under the relevant law. This was being done to penalize the Journalist for his fearless reporting and to pressurize him to tow the Government line. The arrest has been made to silence the small voice of the newspaper
Article extracted from this publication >> March 15, 1991
