Dimapur, January 18 (MExN): The Editor’s Guild of India (EGI) has demanded immediate release of a writer and two editors of The Frontier Manipur, an Imphal-based online news portal and called the arrest “shocking and worrying.”
The trio was reportedly arrested by the police on Sunday on sedition and terror-related charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
“EGI believes that till the police is not nuanced in fundamental rights and various Supreme Court judgements on the imperative to protect freedom, no media organisation is safe from the irrational use of these laws,” a statement from the Guild on Monday read.
This is not the first time the administration has used draconian laws like sedition and UAPA against editors and journalists, it said.
The EGI further demanded immediate release of the editors and withdrawal of cases saying it poses “a threat to free expression and to democracy itself.”
Meanwhile, PTI news agency reported that the two editors were released on January 18 after they “admitted that it was published due to oversight.”
