Press bodies condemn FIR against Mahesh Langa, seek PCI intervention

Five press bodies have condemned the second FIR against The Hindu journalist Mahesh Langa. Four of them 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Women’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists and Kerala Union of Working Journalists demanded that the second FIR be withdrawn.

The Editors Guild of India also issued a statement. It said the second FIR against Langa for possessing “confidential” documents is “worrisome” as journalists are often required to review sensitive documents in the course of their work.

Meanwhile, Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh claimed the charges against Langa are a bid to “divert attention from the scandalous manner” in which the Gujarat Maritime Board has been “forced to bestow special favours” to the Adani Group at “a huge cost to the public exchequer”.

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.”

Update at 8.55 pm on October 28: This copy has been updated with statements from the Editors Guild of India and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

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