Case against 3 journalists in UP for report on plight of children at a govt event

Agencies

January 27, 2021

Lucknow, Jan 27: Three local journalists working with a news channel have been accused of public mischief and criminal intimidation in an FIR filed against them for airing a news report on school children allegedly exercising in biting cold conditions without winter wear at a government function, a police official said.

The FIR lodged by a Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA), an official who takes care of primary education in government schools, also accused the journalists of threatening him.

"The case was registered on Tuesday against three journalists--Mohit, Amit and Yasin on complaint off Basic Siksha Adhikari (BSA) Sunit Dutt at Akbarpur police station of Kanpur Dehat under IPC Section 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation)," Station House Officer (Akbarpur), Tulsiram Pandey, said.

He said the journalists aired the news repot which alleged that several government school students "shivered in biting cold while government officials were busy with an event . The BSA also alleged that the three journalists were not present at the event.

Officials concerned claimed the children were made to take off their winter wear only for the exercises.

The videos was of a function held to mark the UP foundation day on Sunday and was attended by state minister for technology, Ajit Pal Singh, several MLAs and government officials, including DM Kanpur Dehat Dinesh Chandra.

The video, after being aired by the journalists, also went viral on social media on Tuesday in which students were seen braving the biting cold, dressed in cotton shirts and knickers.

In the FIR, the BSA said the the children wore woollens after the drill and the videos were shared with malafide intention.

He added that the journalists also hurt the sentiments of yoga teachers, who were insulted in the process.

District Magistrate, Kanpur Dehat, Chandra, told reporters, "It was painful that some journalists who were not present here spread such news. You all know that yoga cannot be performed wearing sweater, coat and pants. The students did good performance and we all appreciated them."

One of the journalists, Amit Singh, said making the children do yoga in inadequate clothing in harsh winter conditions could not be justified and authorities could have been more careful.

Superintendent of Police (Kanpur Dehat), Keshav Kumar Choudhary, said that FIR has been registered against three local journalists for airing news reports by allegedly misrepresenting facts conducing to public mischief and threatening the BSA.

The instructions have been issued to the Investigation Officer to probe the charges in a fair manner, he said.

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188 Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli army in Gaza

News Network

November 10,2024

The media office in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli regime has been waging a genocidal war since last October, says as many as 188 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the onset of the brutal military onslaught.

The office provided the figure on Saturday, naming four journalists as the most recent victims of the onslaught.

It identified the foursome as Zahraa Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Ahmad Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Mustafa Khadr Bahar, and Abdel Rahman Khadr Bahar.

The office said it “strongly condemns the targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation and holds it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime.”

“We call on the international community, international organizations, and those involved in journalistic work worldwide to take action against the occupation, pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to halt the genocide and the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists,” it said.

Earlier in the day, the office said the Israeli regime had bombed the tents sheltering journalists and displaced persons at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the ninth consecutive time.

The atrocity that claimed the lives of two people and injured 26 others came as part of “the genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army against hospitals, civilians, and displaced persons,” it said.

The media office held the regime and the United States, its biggest ally, as well as other countries aiding the genocide fully responsible for such systematic crimes.

At least 43,552 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 102,765 others wounded since the launch of the war that followed a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

The fatalities include 44 people, who were killed across the coastal sliver, in the most recent phase of the military onslaught.

As many as 24 of the victims were killed in the northern part of the territory, where the regime has markedly intensified its deadly attacks for weeks.

They included an eight-year-old child and a five-year-old one, who lost their lives after Israeli warplanes targeted a group of minors filling up jerry cans with water alongside their mother at the Jabalia Refugee camp.

Gaza’s heath ministry, meanwhile, said a number of victims remained under the rubble and in the streets following Israeli airstrikes, saying ambulances and civil defense teams could not reach them due to the sheer extent of the destruction caused by the raids and obstruction caused by the regime.

Also on Saturday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, a United Nations-backed assessment, warned that famine was looming in northern Gaza amid escalated Israeli aggression and the regime’s near-total siege of the targeted areas.

The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."

On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.

The IPC report classified that figure as Phase 5 -- a situation when "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

The Israeli military, however, questioned the report's credibility.

"To date, all assessments by the IPC have proven incorrect and inconsistent with the situation on the ground," the army said in a statement, denouncing "partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests."

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