My Complaint to Press Council of India against
Sagarika Ghose, Consulting Editor Times of India for her false and inflammatory
statements on Twitter
To
May 26, 2017
Smt. Vibha Bhargava,
The Secretary,
Press Council of India,
Soochna Bhavan, 8-C.G.O.
Complex,
Lodhi Road, New
Delhi-110003
Subject: Complaint under Section
14 of the Press Council Act, 1978 against Ms. Sagarika Ghose, journalist and
Consulting Editor, Times of India
Dear Madam,
The instant complaint is
being lodged under Section 14 of the Press Council Act, 1978 against Ms.
Sagarika Ghose, journalist and Consulting Editor, Times of India in relation to
her tweet dated May 19, 2017 on social media platform, Twitter. An image of the
said tweet, which Ms. Ghose has since deleted but not really retracted, is
enclosed. (Annexure 1). The contents of the tweet are extracted herein
below:
“Mobs are hunting and
killing Muslims across India and THERE IS NO JUSTICE FOR THE KILLERS! WAKE UP,
GOI!”
The sweeping, unqualified,
baseless and fear-mongering nature of the tweet speaks for itself, thereby
squarely attracting Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 for promoting
enmity and disharmony between communities. This is a text-book instance of
spreading ill will and enemity between communities. Therefore, itis a cause for
serious alarm for every concerned citizen who believes in peaceful co-living
between diverse communities of India.
While this is not a
one-off instance and is consistent with Ms. Ghose’s past conduct whereby she
has passed off unverified malafide rumours as facts, what makes her current
conduct, unpardonable and indefensible is that her tweet gives the impression
that Muslims are being slaughtered en masse on a daily basis in India.
Such inflammatory
statements have been used as convenient propaganda material by Jihadist groups
to justify putting India on top of their hit list for terror attacks.
At a time when Islamist
fury is on the rise in India and sympathisers of ISIS in India and abroad are
looking for excuses to justify their murderous acts and indoctrination of
impressionable Muslim youth in India, Ms. Ghose has time and again contributed
to exacerbating the situation. The resultant fear and mistrust among Hindus and
Muslims endangers national security and the safety of the every Indian citizen,
regardless of his or her faith.
When I and several others
responded to Ghose’s inflammatory & baseless tweet, saying we will report
the matter to police unless she retracts and aplogizes publicly, she removed
the tweet saying, she is deleting it in deference to “hurt” feelings. (Annexure
2) By bringing in “hurt sentiments” she opens us to the charge of
“intolerance” of the kind displayed by religious bigots. This amounts to adding
insult to injury. We objected to her tweet because it was based on
outright lies and deliberate attempt to create communal disharmony, not because
our religious feelings were “hurt” by
her calumny.
Her lack of remorse at
her feckless behaviour is evident in her pseudo-apology. Her irresponsible
conduct cannot be taken lightly because she is employed in a senior position at
one of the most prestigeous names in Indian journalism—namely The Times of
India.
Ms. Ghose cannot hide
behind the oft-used alibi of free speech to defend her reprehensible tweet and
conduct because the restrictions that apply to free speech under the
Constitution are squarely applicable in the instant case. No individual or
organization has an absolute and unbridled right to free speech, especially
speech that promotes communal discord and puts in harm’s way the security of
the country. Most important of all, her statement is factually incorrect. Even
in countries, such as the USA and UK,where free speech is celebrated, wilful
failure to undertake due diligence or deliberate spread of wrong information
with inflammatory intent results in the journalist being blacklisted for
employment by all credible media houses.
We urge the PCI to take
firm action against the deviant behaviour of Ms. Ghose and initiate proceedings
under the Press Council Act as well as under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to
make an example of her for the rest of the journalistic community. This measure
is urgently required for upholding the dignity of journalism since there is an
increasing tendency among media persons to serve hidden agendas through their
provocative writings and statements which have little grounding in reality.
This is eroding people’ faith in the Fourth Estate in addition to exposing
Indian society to greater risk from Islamist terror.
In the interest of
keeping alive the public’s faith in PCI’s ability to call irresponsible
journalists and media houses to account, it is imperative for the PCI to
forthwith initiate appropriate legal action against Ms. Ghose and inform
members of the public, including the complainant, of the action it takes
against Ms. Ghose.
Sincerely,
Madhu Purnima Kishwar
Maulana Azad National Professor, ICSSR
Founder MANUSHI.
ANNEXURE 1
ANNEXURE 2
