Srinagar: The Kashmir Press Club has condemened the alleged harassment of journalists and their summoning to the police stations.
In a statement issued on Tuesday the Kashmir Press Club said “In the latest incident, Journalist Irfan Amin Malik, who worked for the Rising Kashmir, was summoned by police for a tweet and questioned for hours together despite the fact that he had already deleted the tweet in question”.
The Kashmir Press Club in it’s statement further said “ Irfan in a written testament to the Kashmir Press Club said that he was summoned by police Sunday morning after he tweeted about the recently launched film policy”, adding there in “He said he was called by the police in south Kashmir’s Tral and was questioned for several hours”.
Stating that Malik (29) before being released was questioned about his deleted tweet on J&K film policy launched by the Jammu and Kashmir administration last week, the Kashmir Press Club statement quotes the journalist as saying “I had tweeted against J&K film policy on Saturday night and I had deleted the tweet within two minutes. On Sunday morning I was called by the police and asked to appear in the police station. For five hours my phone was taken, I was questioned and kept inside the police station. Later on, following the media intervention I was released” .
The journalist, according to the Kashmir Press Club Statement further said“My family became worried after they received information about my police summon. I wonder how a simple tweet of a journalist can land him inside the police station,” he added.
Irfan, according to the Kashmir Press Club Statement, further told the Club authorities that after questioning him for hours he was let go home after being assured that there was no FIR against him.
The concluding para of the statement reads “the Kashmir Press Club while taking strong note of the continued harassment and summons to the journalists by the police has urged the authorities to stop the practice of targeting the media persons for their work and opinions, adding that the freedom of media ought to be respected in a democratic setup”.
