India attacks journalists covering farmer protests
Farmers demonstrate against the agricultural reform wanted by the Indian government in the suburbs of New Delhi on January 30, 2021. AP - Manish Swarup
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The farmers' protest movement in India is gaining new momentum and putting the government under pressure.
He attacks journalists covering the event - one of them was jailed on Saturday evening, and six others are being prosecuted on serious charges.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in New Delhi,
Sébastien Farcis
Mandeep Punia has just published on the internet the results of an investigation which claims that the ruling party, BJP, had sent its supporters to attack farmers who were demonstrating.
A few hours later, Saturday evening, January 30, this independent journalist, contributor to
Caravan
magazine
, was arrested by the police on the fringes of a
peasant camp
.
The agents accuse him of assaulting them.
Mandeep Punia was remanded in custody for two weeks.
In recent days, police have also registered complaints of sedition, a felony punishable by life imprisonment, against six famous journalists who are known to be critical of the government.
Their fault is to have relayed on Twitter the accusations of murder of a demonstrator, brought by farmers against the police.
► Read also: India: the protest movement against agricultural reform is not running out of steam
Several associations of journalists demonstrated this Saturday in the center of New Delhi against this repression.
“
If you raise your voice against power, you are prosecuted for the worst crimes and harassed by the courts,
they protest.
The government has established a state of emergency
”.
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