‘Terrible on the freedom of the press ….’ Odisha High Court gave big relief to the trapped journalist for exposing government flaws
Odisha High Court has given a big relief to the victim in the case filed against the journalist for exposing the lapses being done by the state government during the Corona epidemic. While canceling the case filed by the state government, the High Court has also directed to stop the ongoing legal action against the journalist. The High Court said that if cases continue to be filed in this way, it will have a terrible impact on the freedom of the press. The victim journalist is the input editor of Odisha Television Network (OTV).
A single bench of Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar said, “If the legal action against the input editor of OTV is continued, it can have dire implications for the freedom of the press.” Let us tell you that on August 6, 2020, two people were arrested on OTV. The audio of the conversation was played, in which one of the men claimed that he had returned after being treated at a quarantine center under the supervision of the government after being found corona positive. One of the two people had talked about taking the seriousness of the corona pandemic lightly. He had said that this disease can be treated without any medicine.
What was the logic of Odisha government
This conversation was also shared on OTV’s YouTube and other social media platforms. Odisha government believed that publishing such news creates confusion among the people about this serious disease. This encourages people to disobey the corona protocol. Along with this, they are being encouraged not to take medical treatment. Therefore, a case was registered against the journalist under sections 269, 270, 120B and 505(1) of the IPC. Along with this, action was also taken under the Disaster Management Act 2005.
This was the real deal
On behalf of the Odisha government, it was also said that OTV was also spreading false news in the state about the misuse of funds given by the central government for the corona epidemic. The OTV report had claimed that the government was creating fake cases of corona patients in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation to meet its daily targets.
