Four press associations have condemned the second FIR against The Hindu journalist Mahesh Langa and have urged the Press Council of India to “perform its mandate of safeguarding the freedom of the press”.

Langa, who has been in judicial custody since October 8 for alleged GST fraud, was booked in another case on October 22. The second FIR was lodged at the Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar for possession of confidential documents linked to the Gujarat Maritime Board.

Issuing a statement on Monday, the Press Club of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists and Kerala Union of Working Journalists demanded that the second FIR be withdrawn.

Last week, The Hindu’s former editor-in-chief N Ram condemned the police action, appealed for support for a “journalist’s right” to obtain confidential documents, and said that “if journalists are imprisoned or otherwise penalised for obtaining and analysing such documents, much of investigative reporting would become extinct!”

A senior journalist at The Hindu, Suresh Nambath, wrote on X that he was deeply concerned. “We would like to reiterate that journalists are required to process documents, including those of a confidential nature, in the line of their work. They are guided by the larger public interest in perusing documents that are official or confidential.”

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