Although India prides itself as the world’s largest democracy, its journalists are under increasing attack and most now practice self-censorship to avoid jail or possible heavy fines.
That is the bleak assessment of Shahina K.K., a veteran Indian journalist, who is a recipient of the 2023 International Press Freedom Award presented by the Committee to Protect Journalists. She spoke at a program Tuesday at the National Press Club.
Press Freedom Committee chairman of the Press Club Rachel Oswald gave the introductory remarks in the programme while journalist Mushfiqul Fazal moderated it.
Shahina faces three charges under India’s anti-terror law and penal code for stories she wrote in 2010 on the arrest of Abdul Nasar Madani, a Muslim cleric and politician, in connection with a bombing in Bangalore. She wrote that witness statements against Madani was ”fabricated and twisted.” He is now in poor health and has been released on bail, Shahina said.
The charges against Shahina, filed by prosecutors shortly after her stories appeared, include threatening witnesses and criminal conspiracy, which she strongly denies. She has never been jailed but was interrogated extensively. She has been free on bail awaiting trial for 13 years. If convicted, Shahina faces up to three years in prison.
Shahina has continued to work and is now a writer and senior editor for Outlook, a weekly newsmagazine with a reported readership of 1.7 million in print and online. But, she said, “There is a kind of self-censorship….I’ve always got to think, ‘Should I do that or not?’ And the police keep calling” to ask about sources.
Even so, in recent years Shahina has written major stories on discrimination against women, lower-caste groups and on prison conditions.
“A Muslim by birth, Shahina has been subjected to extensive harassment by Indian right-wing groups seeking to silence her reporting.” the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement.
“There’s been online-harassment and trolling,” Shahina said. “But I’m used to that. It has become routine to me and often I just don’t look at it or I block it.”
Kunal Majumder, India representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the committee knows of 17 journalists who have been charged under India’s anti-terrorism law since 2010. He said six are still in prison awaiting trial, nine have been released on bail, and two have been acquitted. None has been convicted, he said.
“In India the process is the punishment,” Shahina said. “But I’ve been able to continue to write and publish stories….and I've managed to create opportunities out of this crisis.”
Despite the harassment, Shahina said there are reporters and publications in India “doing good journalism.” The courts, though slow, remain independent. “The judiciary is our only hope still,” she said.-The National Press Club
