Press Council moves SC, justifies communication blockade in J-K

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 24

The Press Council of India – which regulates print media — has moved the Supreme Court supporting the government’s decision to impose restrictions on communication in the state following the abrogation of certain provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution.

The Council has sought to intervene in Kashmir Times Executive Editor Anuradha Bhasin’s petition seeking removal of restrictions on communication that hindered functioning of journalists in the troubled stated.

Filed on Friday, the application justified the communication blockade, saying that due to the security concerns there can be reasonable restrictions on the media.

The PCI said since Bhasin’s petition concerns the right of the journalists/media for free and fair reporting on the one hand and national interest of integrity and sovereignty on the other, the Council was of the opinion that it should present its view before the court and assist it in deciding her petition justly in the interest of freedom of press as well as in the national interest.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, too, has moved the top court for production of his party leader Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, detained in Jammu and Kashmir since abrogation of certain provisions of Article 370.

The petition was mentioned on Friday before a Bench headed by Justice NV Ramana which said the matter will be listed before an appropriate Bench on Monday.

Tarigami, a member of the Central Committee of the CPI(M) and four-time MLA of the state assembly, has not been keeping well, party sources said, adding Yechury had travelled to Srinagar earlier this month to meet Tarigami but he was denied entry.