Committee Against Assault on Journalists

Haldwani: A local court has ordered to lodge FIR in case of a journalist's death under suspicious circumstances last year. The order is yet to reach Kaladhungi P.S. under whose jurisdiction body of Devender Singh Patwal was found on January 1, 2018. Devender Patwal was Bureau Head of TV100 in Uttarakhand, He was found dead last year under suspicious circumstances. After more than six months of his death, no FIR was registered although many organisations and his family had repeatedly tried for it. Mother of slained journo Ms. Ganga Devi had approached some associates of CAAJ after which a senior advocate of Dehi High Court Anand Mishra took up this case and filed a fresh writ petition in Nainital HC. This case was raised in the National Convention Against Assault on Journalists by CAAJ last September where Ganga Devi put up her testimony in session presided over by Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh. Now after full one year, the court has ordered to lodge an FIR in this

CAAJ invites you to a seminar on the need of a Journalis Safety Act in the states of Haryana and Punjab. As you must be knowing, Chhatrapati Ram Chander, the martyred Editor of newspaper Poora Sach has got justice after 17 years of legal battle and the accused Baba Ram Rahim has been convicted to life sentence for his murder. It is unfortunate that the open and shut case like this takes around two decades to reach its logical and legal conclusion. This reflects badly on the plight of journalists' safety and demands for an Act on the line of Maharashtra and a proposed act in Chattisgarh. In the memory of Chhatrapati Ram Chander, some journalists from these two states plus Delhi will congregate in the premises of Punjab University, Chandigarh to deliberate upon the issue,

January 15:  This statement is in condemnation of the judicial harassment being meted out to senior Assamese Editor Mr. Manjit Mahanta, Sahitya Academy Awardee writer Hiren Gohain and farmers' leader Akhil Gogoi in a case of Sedition slapped upon them for participation in a peaceful protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Guwahati. On January 9, 2019, Latasil police registered a case against o ne of Assam's prominent scholar and intellectual Hiren Gohain ,  Akhil Gogoi, President of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS)  and Manjit Mahanta, Convenor of the Forum against Citizenship Act Amendment Bill, under Sections 120(B) (“punishment of criminal conspiracy”), 121 (“ waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government”) , 123 (“ concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war”) , and 124(A) (“sedition”) of the Indian Penal Code. On January 11, 2019,  the Guwahati High Court granted bail to Mr.  Manjit Mahan

New Delhi 13.01.19 A review and follow-up meeting of CAAJ was held in the Press Club of India, New Delhi on Saturday January 12th, 2018. It was attended by representatives from Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. After the successful National Convention Against Assault on Journalists organised in September 2018, this was the first formal meeting of CAAJ constituents where the following agenda was put up for discussion: a) Moving forward with expansion process of CAAJ (membership mechanism etc.) b) A Convention in Raipur for mobilisation in favor of Journalist Security Act, Chhattisgarh, around third week of January. c) Institutionalisation of CAAJ through state level meetings, state coordination committees etc. d) Maintenance of blog, social media accounts and a rapid response team. e) Meeting of CAAJ constituents. f) Other miscellaneous issues that arise out of discussion.  CAAJ core team was involved in the production of a booklet in English and