The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) strongly condemned restrictions imposed on the media by the Vice-Chancellor of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) to report on the
ongoing agitation in the University Campus after the suicide of Dalit Scholar Rohit Vemula. The Union said it amounted to pre-censorship and denial of access to source of news, which was unconstitutional and violation of the rulings of the Supreme Court.
In a statement issued here on Saturday, IJU President S N Sinha and Secretary-General Amur Devulapalli alleged the restrictions on media in the University Campus were imposed to black out flow of information on the happening there. It was a direct attack on the freedom of the press and right of the people to know, they said.
“The reported statement of the Vice-Chancellor P Appa Rao that restrictions on media were imposed because ‘a person who do not know anything talks to media, it becomes public, and false news appears’ is preposterous, to say the least and exposes the mindset of those who are administering the University.
“His gratuitous suggestion that the media should report on the basis of press releases and postings on the official website of the University is unacceptable. The media do not need lessons from the Vice-chancellor on how to report events on the campus.”
The IJU leaders demanded that the restrictions imposed on the media on reporting from the Campus of the HCU because the University ran public funding and the people had the right to know the happening in the campus. They appealed to the President Pranab Mukherjee to intervene as the Chancellor of the University and protect the freedom of press and right of the people know. (NSS)