Several journalists, activists and others have signed and released a joint statement condemning the Kerala government for registering a suo-moto case against journalist Rejaz M Sheeba Sydeek for a story published on Maktoob Media. The story was about the alleged anti-Muslim bias in Kerala that led to the detention of Muslim youths, reportedly without any leads, in connection with the Kalamassery blasts. The statement slammed the Kerala government and drew parallels to the BJP-led Union government in intruding into the freedom of speech and freedom of media. “The state government’s action of taking a suo moto case in this matter is highly anti-democratic and an attack on the freedom of press,” the statement read.
The Vadakara police booked Rejaz, a freelance journalist, in a suo moto case alleging provocation with intent to cause a riot in his news report. In the news report published by Maktoob Media on October 30, he reported about how Kerala police arrested five Muslim youths from different parts of the state without any evidence, after the blasts at a Jehovah Witness convention in Kalamassery.
“The government's action against Rijas M Siddique is an intrusion by the State into the citizen's freedom of expression and freedom of media. The state government, which claims to be Left, is following a similar pattern as the Union government by suppressing the civil rights of activists and media persons to criticize the police and the government,” the statement read. It also added that while the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government was standing with News Click media organisation, the government was curtailing the journalistic freedom of Rejaz.
“Such double-facedness will weaken the growing anti-fascist struggles across the country. In present day India, when most of the mainstream media are turning into Godi media, Kerala's LDF government, which is behaving like the RSS regime at the centre, should stop its crackdown on the media which questions the government. Suppressing people's right to know is unconstitutional,” it said and demanded that the First Information Report (FIR) is immediately cancelled and to return the mobile phone that was seized from him.
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