The Press Council of India (PCI) has sent a show cause notice to The Caravan, over its story in the February 2024 edition titled “Screams from the Army Post”, an investigative about over Indian Army’s alleged torture and murder of Indian citizens in the Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The story, written by Jatinder Kaur Tur, alleges that the Indian Army’s Rashtriya Rifles corps tortured civilians who were picked up by them on December 22, 2023.
The report on the alleged custodial torture read, “25 men were picked up from several villages in Rajouri and Poonch districts, and taken to three different army posts, where they were severely tortured. Three of them died.” The print edition of the magazine featured an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi clad in an army uniform, standing atop a tank and surveying an army exhibition through his stylish aviator sunglasses.
The PCI’s step against the publication follows the union government’s ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) ordering the story to be taken down from the organisation’s entire website on February 12, warning the publication of blocking their website if the order was not followed.
The February 2024 edition of The Caravan also had a story on the politicisation of the Indian Army, under the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party regime at the centre.
While Caravan took the story down from its website, the organisation contested the order with a petition in the Delhi High Court on March 1, advocating the government order being a grave attack on press freedom and a violation of the fundamental right to free speech and expression. The legal hearing of the petition is currently ongoing.
The MIB had also sent a complaint letter to PCI on March 5, to which the self-regulatory watchdog of the press sent Caravan a notice almost seven months later on October 1, a few days before the validity of the PCI member’s memberships expired on October 5.
The Caravan, in response, has released a press statement, imploring the supreme press body of the nation, whose mandate is to defend press freedom and to uphold its right to put forward stories that are in the interest of the public good.
The publication called the notice a “clear violation of the Act that created the institution”, referring to the Press Council Act of India, 1978. Caravan said that the PCI’s decision to send a notice over an issue on which a legal hearing is in the process is ‘patently illegal’.
The Caravan, in its statement, made it clear that the detailed account of custodial torture and murder in the story is factual, a matter accepted by the state government of Jammu and Kashmir, which offered compensation to the victims. Additionally, the Indian Army is currently conducting an official inquiry into the incident and has acknowledged footage showing civilian locals being subjected to custodial torture.
Backing the story and the journalist, The Caravan said, “Our piece is built on meticulous reporting, has gone through the rigour of our editorial and fact-checking processes, is backed by evidence, and has followed the high standards of journalistic ethics our organisation subscribes to.”
The Caravan added that the publication hopes that the Press Council of India ensures they defend the rights of a journalist uncovering severe human rights violations in the country, rather than further the suffocation of press freedom in India.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Parameswaran Valeri | 
