An association of digital media organisations condemned on Tuesday the searches carried out by the Delhi Police at the offices of news portal The Wire and the houses of its editors on the basis of a complaint filed by BJP leader Amit Malviya.
In a statement, Digipub News India Foundation claimed that the searches “mainly serve the purpose of criminalising and creating a chilling effect against the profession of journalism in India”.
“A journalist or a media organisation that publishes a false report ought to be held accountable by its peers and civil society,” the statement said.
“But for the police to carry out an immediate and arbitrary search of the media house’s office and its editors’ homes, based entirely on a private complaint of defamation filed by a spokesperson of the ruling party, smacks of malafide intentions,” it added.
It noted that Malviya’s complaint was regarding a series of stories published by The Wire about social media company Meta, claiming that he had special censorship privileges through an Instagram programme called X-Check.
The Wire had retracted the said articles last month, claiming that it was deceived by a member of its investigative team.
The Delhi Police carried out searches at the houses of the portal’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and deputy editor M K Venu on Monday.
A senior police officer said searches were conducted at the office of The Wire as well and all electronic devices relevant for the probe were seized.
Police had on Saturday filed an FIR against the news portal and its editors on a complaint by Malviya accusing the media outlet of “cheating and forgery” and “tarnishing” his reputation.
Meanwhile, Siddharth’s brother Tunku Varadarajan tweeted, “The @DelhiPolice Crime Branch just searched the house of my brother @svaradarajan & seized his phone & laptop. Why seize these when his publication has acknowledged/retracted a mistake? This seizure is repugnant in a democracy. Indians should raise their voices in fierce protest.”
Malviya had on Friday said he would pursue criminal and civil proceedings against the portal over stories, since retracted, that insinuated that the BJP leader enjoyed the privilege on Meta platforms of having any post taken down which he believed was against the BJP’s interests.
The Wire had also filed a police complaint against its former consultant Devesh Kumar in connection with the now retracted story related to BJP’s IT department head late on Saturday through e-mail.
The complaint alleged that Kumar has a “malintent” towards The Wire, its editors, and staff and has “fabricated and supplied documents, e-mails and other material such as videos with a view to damage its reputation. He has done so either on his own or at the behest of other unknown persons”.
The complaint has also claimed that according to a review by The Wire, Kumar had “supplied fabricated material, including the documents and e-mails and videos from Instagram and Meta”.
