A Ballia lower court on Tuesday rejected the bail pleas of three journalists arrested for their alleged involvement in a paper leak case, Indian Express reported today.
Mithilesh Kumar Singh, the lawyer representing the three journalists, told the newspaper that bail pleas would be filed today at a sessions court. "Some of the sections invoked against my clients were bailable, while others are non-bailable," he said. "The lower court rarely gives bail in such cases."
The three journalists are Ajit Ojha and Digvijay Singh of Amar Ujala and Manoj Gupta of Rashtriya Sahara. They are among over 50 people arrested for their "involvement" in the leaking of the exam papers for the Uttar Pradesh Class 12 Board exam.
Digvijay Singh said last week that the administration was trying to silence journalists for reporting the paper leak. “They are repeatedly asking me where I got the paper from. I have told them that I got it from a source,” he said.
On April 4, journalists in Uttar Pradesh carried out a protest march against the arrests, saying the Ballia district administration was throttling the fourth estate. The arrests were condemned by the Press Club of India, which said the state government was "going hammer and tongs to threaten and actually arrest those mediapersons who don't toe the line of government thinking".
The Press Club of India and Digipub News India Foundation also held a meeting on April 6 where, among other issues, they spotlighted the Ballia arrests while describing how journalists were being targeted. Watch the interaction here.
