Withdraw jail term of journalists: Amnesty to Karnataka assembly speaker

Bengaluru: Amnesty International India has urged the Assembly Speaker to withdraw his order sentencing two journalists to a year in prison for alleged breach of privilege of legislators by publishing defamatory articles in their newspapers. On June 22, Speaker K.B. Koliwad ordered that journalists Ravi Belegere and Anil Raju, be sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of Rs 10,000 each.

They were accused of publishing defamatory articles against MLAs, including a member of the House privilege committee, who had recommended the punishment. Amnesty International India programmes director Asmita Basu said that journalists must have the freedom to write critical articles against politicians and they should able to tolerate such criticism. If MLAs feel their reputation has been damaged before the public, they can take legal action by filing a defamation suit in court, she said.

“Everyone has the right to trial by a competent and independent authority, he or she must be given a fair opportunity to defend himself. But in this case, the MLAs sit in the judge’s seat and order the sentence against journalists, which violates the basic principles of a fair trial,” she argued.