The High Court has refused to quash the FIR against Patricia Mukheem, editor of The Shillong Times, for allegedly causing communal harmony through a Facebook post. Mukhim says that the Editors Guild protects only celebrity journalists, keeping silence on their case.
The Shillong Times editor Mukhim said that the Editors Guild is completely silent on the refusal of the FIR against him to be quashed by the Meghalaya High Court and blamed him for disturbing communal harmony through Facebook posts.
Mookhim said, "The Editors Guild kept silence over his case while a statement was issued condemning the arrest of Arnab Goswami despite not being a member of the guild."
Explain that Mukhim had written a Facebook post about the attack on non-tribal students in the state, for which an FIR was registered on him for inciting communal tension.
On November 10, the Meghalaya High Court refused to quash the police complaint against Mukhim's Facebook post.
According to the NDTV report, now Mukhim says that the Editors Guild, the apex body of journalists in the country, protects only celebrity journalists.
In his resignation, Mukhim said that the Editors Guild issued a statement condemning the arrest of news anchor and editor Arnab Goswami but did not issue any statement in his case.
Last week, the Meghalaya High Court refused to quash the FIR lodged against him for the Facebook post made by Mukheem in July.
Mukheem had said that he had told the Editors Guild in detail about this matter.
Mukhim said in his resignation, 'I want to resign from its membership now. There are many reasons for doing this. First, as a journalist I am not part of the league of celebrity editors, whose newspapers are widely read and whose news web portals are very popular. '
He said, 'I shared the High Court order with the Guild in the hope that it would issue a condemnation by issuing a statement in this context but a complete silence was taken in this context.'
In a letter to Seema Mustafa, the newly elected president of the Editors Guild, Mukheem said, "Ironically, the guild issued a statement condemning the arrest of Arnab Goswami despite not being a member of the institution while his arrest was not based on journalism but suicide." The case took place. I consider it a classic case of a guild defending a celebrity editor or anchor, while the petition of a guild member was deliberately ignored. '
Patricia, in her resignation letter sent to Guild President Seema Mustafa, said that she wanted to resign from the membership, so her resignation should be accepted.
Significantly, in July this year, five boys were attacked in the basketball court. After the murderers were not found, Mukhim attacked the 'Darbar' (council) of Lavsohatun village via Facebook.
The 'Darbar' or 'Dorbar Shong' is the administrative unit of Khasi villages, which runs the traditional regime. Two groups - tribal and non-tribal - were allegedly involved in the incident. In this case, 11 people were detained by the police and two people were arrested.
Mukhim wrote in his post about this, 'Some non-tribal youth playing basketball were attacked with sharp weapons and they are now in hospital, this cannot be accepted in a government and police state.'
The Facebook post further wrote, 'Such attacks on non-tribals in Meghalaya should be condemned. Many of its ancestors have been living here for decades, some have been here since the British era. And what about the region's repeated shong? Are their eyes and ears not on the ground? Do they not know the criminal elements of their jurisdiction? Shouldn't they come forward and identify those attackers? '
The Village Council had lodged a police complaint against Mukhim for the post on social media, alleging that his statement provoked communal tension and could also lead to communal conflict.
Sections 153A of the Indian Penal Code on Mukheem (promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, caste, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 505 (making statements intended to incite any class or community) and 499 A case was filed under (defamation).
In his petition filed in the High Court, Mukhim had demanded that the complaint against him and the proceedings initiated against him be quashed.
While hearing the case, Justice W.W. Dengdoh had said that in his post he has' compared the security and rights of tribal and non-tribal and his inclination has been one-sided. Due to this it is of a tendency to incite communal tension between two communities. '
Patricia Mukheem says that she will challenge this decision in the Supreme Court.
(With input from news agency language)
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