DIGIPUB, PCI, IWPC, said registering of FIR by UP Police against Zakir Ali Tyagi and Wasim Akram Tyagi was “perturbing and “misuse of new criminal laws”.

MEDIA organisations, such as DIGIPUB, Press Club of India and the Indian Women’s Press Corp have condemned the FIR registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police against five persons, including two journalists, for their posts on the alleged lynching of a Muslim man in Shamli district.

DIGIPUB, a collective of over 90 digital news outfits and independent journalists, said the FIR against journalist Zakir Ali Tyagi and Wasim Akram Tyagi and three others, for “sharing information in public interest is a grave overreach and misuse of criminal laws and an assault on press freedom that has a chilling effect.”

The cases have been lodged under the new criminal law, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or BNS, invoking Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups) and 353 (making statements conducive to public mischief).

Noting that Zakir Ali has been repeatedly targeted by the UP Police, DIGIPUB called for immediate rescinding of the FIR and “cease turning the law against journalists who are doing their job”.

Endorsing the statement by DIGIPUB, the PCI and IWPC, in a joint statement, said, “Reporting publicly available information, irrespective of the medium of the message, qualifies as bonafide journalism. Such arbitrary application of BNS tantamounts to intimidation of journalists in direct violation of Article 19(1)A of the Constitution. We unequivocally demand the withdrawal of the FIR against the two journalists,”

Reacting to the FIR, senior advocate Indira Jaising, said, “Clear violation of Article (1) (a) of the Constitution of India, what is the point of swearing in by the Constitution and then misusing the new criminal laws?”

The alleged mob lynching incident took place in UP’s Shamli district on July 5. The FIR was filed by the police on July 6, after a social media post by Zakir Ali Tyagi on July 5, claiming that a Muslim man had died after “mob lynching” in Jalalabad town. He also named the persons who had allegedly beaten up the man, Qureshi, a scrap worker, over allegations of theft. As per reports, the post was “accompanied by a picture of the deceased as well as the complaint that was filed by Qureshi’s family, who claimed that Qureshi had been beaten up by a group of men that had caused his death.”