Folklore Academy slams raids on NewsClick scribes

Amritsar, October 4

Folklore Research Academy, Amritsar and Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh Amritsar today jointly condemned the raids by ED and Delhi Police on NewsClick journalists. In a meeting held under chairmanship of Academy President Ramesh Yadav and Lekhak Sangh President, Bhupinder Singh Sandhu, the members strongly condemned the raids and arrests of journalists associated with NewsClick’, terming it as an attack on the freedom of the press and democratic values.

Yadav said that more than 30 places related to ‘News Click’ have been raided, as ‘News Click’ is known for strongly criticizing the anti-people policies of the current central government. “The Delhi Police has also seized the laptops, phones and important documents of the journalists. Some time ago, the central government was upset with the criticism of NewsClick and accused this news portal of taking funds from China. It had registered a case and started investigation. The journalists fear that by tampering with the data on their phones and laptops, they can be implicated in serious crimes,” said Yadav.

This atmosphere of intimidation and detention is meant to suppress their voices,” said Bhupinder Sandhu. The meeting had presence of several personalities.