The Andhra Pradesh police have registered a case against Sakshi daily. They filed a case against its editor V Murali and others in Patamata police station in Vijayawada. The case was registered following a complaint by an advocate Gudipati Lakshminarayana, on a news report published in Sakshi daily.
Sakshi daily had carried a news report on alleged corruption in the flood relief work in Vijayawada. Several parts of Vijayawada were submerged in Budameru rivulet water in September this year. People were in flood water for ten days.
It was alleged that the government had prepared a report stating that it had spent Rs 543 crore for the flood relief which included Rs 23 crore for candles and matchboxes. The government also allegedly showed some accounts under heads like water bottles, and food where a few crore of rupees were shown as spent.
Sakshi reported on this alleging heavy corruption in the government. Sakshi also quoted the victims and leaders of the Left parties in the story.
Taking objection to this report, advocate Lakshminarayana lodged a complaint in the Patamata police station. The police have registered an FIR in the case and served notices to the editor and the reporter.
It was not proper on the part of the police to accept the complaint from the advocate as he is not in any way related to the story. He is not part of the government nor was a victim of the floods. However, the police accepted his complaint and registered an FIR.
The case was against the directions of the Supreme Court, which said that journalists have the freedom of expression. On October 4, this year, the supreme court asked the state governments to protect the rights of the journalists under Article 19 (1)(A). The case was related to Uttar Pradesh government filing a case against a journalist, Abhishek Upadhyay.
Against this order of the Supreme Court, the Andhra Pradesh police have registered a case against Sakshi daily and its editor.
Indian Journalists Union steering committee member and senior journalist, Devulapalli Amar, took strong exception to the police registering a case against Sakshi. He said that the government should have given a rejoinder for the story if it felt that the story is not true. Later, the government should have filed a defamation case against the paper. But registering an FIR against the paper is not acceptable, he said.
