Press Club, Kolkata while condemning withdrawal of permission of the Tripura daily, ‘Desher Katha‘, has asked for its resumption.
In a statement issued to the media on Thursday, Press Club, Kolkata, condemned the sudden withdrawal of declaration of a running and established newspaper ‘Desher Katha’ of Tripura.
‘This is nothing but gagging of freedom of speech and expression and also an attack against freedom of Press,’ the statement read.
The statement further stated that the Press Club, Kolkata desired that the technicalities regarding declaration should be revalidated and the publication should be resumed.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Editors’ Guild of India has also condemned the decision of the Registrar of Newspaper for India (RNI) to cancel the registration of the Tripura daily published from Agartala.
Notably, the registration of the daily ‘Desher Katha’, a mouthpiece of the CPI-M in Tripura, was cancelled on the ground that there was ‘unauthorized change of ownership’.
The Guild is of the view that cancellation of the registration of a publication on the mere finding that there was a mismatch between the information of the editor, printer and publisher is not only a ‘gross overreaction but also a draconian step’ that ‘throttles’ freedom of the media.
The guild further demanded immediate revocation of the order on the cancellation of the registration of the daily, pending further inquiry into the charges of misinformation.
It also demanded that a thorough inquiry is instituted by the government to investigate whether the decision was politically motivated.