‘Deeply disturbed’: Editors Guild on FIRs for report on media coverage of Manipur conflict

The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday said that it was “deeply disturbed” by the Manipur Police’s decision to register first information reports against its members and Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s remarks calling the journalists’ body “anti-national”.

The press body said in a statement that that rather than responding to concerns raised in its report in a meaningful manner, the state government has registered FIRs invoking multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Two FIRs were filed against the members of the Editors Guild of India on Sunday for their report on the media coverage of the ethnic violence in the northeastern state. The case was filed against the authors of the report – Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor – and the president of the Editors Guild of India, Seema Mustafa. The complainants had alleged that the report was false, fabricated and sponsored.

Statement by the Executive Committee of the Editors Guild of India on the FIRs registered by the Manipur police against the Guild, as well as the intimidatory remarks made by the Chief Minister of Manipur pic.twitter.com/MHvrYT8ufj— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) September 5, 2023

After the first FIR was filed, Singh had said that the Editors Guild did not have the authority to constitute a fact-finding...

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