The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) expressed strong resentment against the summons issued by the Itanagar Police to the editor and publisher of The Dawnlit Post, a daily newspaper published from Itanagar, the state capital of Arunachal Pradesh, to appear before them over a criminal complaint filed by a State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader over a news item published in the newspaper recently.
According to media reports, the news was published in the daily on February 12, 2018.
The police also asked the editor and publisher of the daily to give a written statement to defend the report published in their daily.
The General Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh BJP, Lelung Lingfa, filed a complaint before a court alleging that the news published in the daily was ‘defamatory’.
The court had directed the police to investigate the matter.
Protesting the summons served to the editor and publisher of the daily, the President and Secretary-General of Indian Journalists Union, SN Sinha and Amar Devulapalli respectively, in a statement on Tuesday, alleged that police summons to the editor and publisher of the newspaper were intended to keep pressure on the newspaper and its editors, and enforce self-censorship on scribes in view of the ensuing State Assembly elections.