AAP trying to muzzle voice of media in Punjab: Sukhbir Badal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 May, 2023 10:13 AM
Chandigarh, May 26 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Friday accused the AAP government in Punjab of trying to muzzle the voice of media ever since it assumed power.
"The government has registered false cases against journalists besides banning web channels and even stopping advertisements to publications which refused to relay its propaganda," he said.
"It has also proceeded against artists, academicians and intellectuals. The SAD will do its utmost to guard the freedom of the press and democratic values and warns the AAP government not to trample upon civil rights in this manner."
Reacting to summoning of Managing Editor of the Ajit newspaper, Barjinder Singh Hamdard, Badal said the act of summoning of Hamdard by the state Vigilance Bureau was a "brazen act of a power drunk Chief Minister who wanted to exact revenge against the him for his principled stand on freedom of the press".
In a statement here, the SAD President expressed solidarity with Hamdard and said the Akali Dal would do its utmost to defend the voice of the media in Punjab.
Asserting that the intimidation of Hamdard had shocked Punjabis worldwide, Badal said the Chief Minister first stopped advertisements to the Ajit newspaper. "Then it started intimidating functionaries of the Ajit and now it has stooped down to persecuting its Managing Director. This is the height of vendetta politics and is totally unacceptable in a democracy."
Gandhi's trip is impelled "by a desire to raise our concern about democracy", said Sam Pitroda, a longtime US-based associate of the Gandhis and someone closely associated with the planning and execution of the Congress leader's visit.
Notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi was transferred from Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat to Delhi's Mandoli Prison in the early hours of Thursday. The decision to lodge Bishnoi to Mandoli jail was taken due to security concerns, a senior prison official said.
Speaking at annual meeting of the Kerala Police Association, Sethuraman said: "The use of drugs is prevalent among the children of police officials at all levels. Two children of a Superintendent of Police are victims of drug abuse and this affected his family life too. There has to be a serious check to prevent this rampant drug abuse, which is alarming."
To curb the menace of issuing SIM cards on fake identities, a major security threat, the Punjab Police have got blocked over 1.8 lakh SIM cards activated using fake identities and forged documents, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Thursday. In one case 500 SIM cards have been issued with the same photograph but in different names by forging documents.
Pachauri had filed a contempt of court petition in February 2016, alleging several media houses for deliberately and contemptuously not following the court's orders restricting them from publishing sexual harassment claims against him. The affidavit further read that Goswami is a respectable citizen of the country, who abides by the law and holds all courts in high esteem.
Presiding over the meeting regarding the demands of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha here, Dhaliwal said the new agricultural policy is being prepared with the aim of boosting the income of the farmers. Also, the government is making efforts to solve many problems of the farmers.
