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.
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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.
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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.