review of official secrets act

A DAY before journalist Iftikhar Gilani came out of Tihar Jail, Delhi, the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) said it was for a review of the Official Secrets Act (OSA). Through a statement issued by its president S K Pande and general secretary Javed Faridi on January 13, the DUJ welcomed the decision to withdraw the case against Kashmir Times Delhi bureau chief Gilani, and the court judgement, as better late than never. But it also said the way the case progressed was a shoddy revelation of the inhuman handling of cases by the government. It also showed a general reticence on part of some high-ups to delay justice and pass the buck from one ministry to another.

The organisation also welcomed the bail the Supreme Court granted to Kumar Badal of Tehelka.com and expressed grave concern at the torture inflicted on him. A three-member committee of the DUJ is to shortly submit its report. Regarding the Gilani case, the DUJ said it is ridiculous to ponder how those in the higher echelons cannot even see the spread of communication and dub an old document, very much in public domain, as an official secret.

To ensure that this does not happen again, journalists must debate the OSA in the backdrop of Gilani case.

The statement said the DUJ stand before the Press Council stands vindicated --- that what is in public domain cannot be an official secret. However, it asked, who would compensate Gilani for the trauma he underwent for more than seven months in jail and for repeated denial of bail?

The DUJ said vigilance was the need of the hour, for clear patterns are seen in the attacks on the press. It is for the government to understand that gagging the media had its lessons during the emergency. Wrong cases like Gilani’s can also have signals for Kashmir valley, it warned.

The DUJ expressed gratitude to lawyer R K Ohri who spent days and nights preparing for the case and hours at the court appealing and re-appealing. It also lauded the determination of the Gilanis in pursuing the case despite all humiliation heaped on them.

In an earlier statement issued on January 9, the DUJ had asked its members to be ready to fight the attempts being made by the union home ministry to be the sole arbiter of what comes under the OSA’s purview. Efforts are on to arbitrarily jail and terrrorise journalists for possessing or quoting from what is already there in public domain. The whole OSA will have to be reviewed afresh if such frame-up of journalists is to be prevented, the DUJ said.

There is an increasing fear that a concerted attack is being made to muzzle press freedom and usher in a new era of government-sponsored journalism, the DUJ said, adding that shades of emergency are spreading their tentacles.

Referring to the then ongoing Gilani case, the statement said the government could not alone decide what is prejudicial to national interest and arrest journalists for printing what is openly available for those who browse the net or visit libraries.

The case of journalist Gilani got more and more curious by the day as did official interpretations of the OSA, the DUJ charged. The government, it added, is scripting the way for ending investigative journalism by deciding what should appear in print. It can even selectively decide, depending on its whims, whether what is in public domain is dangerous for the country. Is, the DUJ asked, an undeclared press censorship on way? (INN)

People's Democracy