Pune: Pune Shramik Patrakar Sangh has urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to direct the police to remove the names of ABP Majha reporters from a case registered in connection with an incident at COEP Technological University and hostel premises in Shivajinagar.
The journalists’ union has strongly condemned the inclusion of the reporters in the case, alleging that the action amounts to an attack on press freedom and freedom of journalism.
According to the representation submitted to Chief Minister Fadnavis, COEP Technological University’s Chief Administrative Officer Raju Pachkor lodged a complaint with the Shivajinagar Police Station regarding an incident that took place on August 21. Based on the complaint, police registered a case on August 23, in which representatives of ABP Majha were also named.
The union stated that journalists regularly cover developments, activities and issues concerning students at COEP and other universities, colleges and educational institutions across Pune. It said journalists also interact with students and highlight their concerns through news reports.
According to the representation, the ABP Majha reporters had earlier interacted with several female students at the university and reported their responses as part of a news story. However, the union claimed that the reporters were not present at the university when the incident occurred on August 21.
Despite this, their names were included in the FIR based on the complaint submitted by the university administration, the union alleged.
The Pune Shramik Patrakar Sangh termed the action an attack on media freedom, which it said is considered the fourth pillar of democracy. It also pointed out that freedom of speech and expression, including press freedom, is protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.
The union has therefore requested Chief Minister Fadnavis to issue directions to the police to remove the names of the ABP Majha representatives from the case.
Dr Raju Pachkor, Chief Administrative Officer of the hostel department at COEP Technological University, filed a complaint at the Shivajinagar Police Station on August 23, following which an FIR was registered. In the complaint, Pachkor did not identify any journalist by name but alleged that an “ABP Majha journalist” had entered the COEP hostel premises without authorisation.
The FIR was among three cases registered at the Shivajinagar Police Station following a confrontation between ABVP and NSUI/Congress workers on the COEP campus on the night of August 21, a day ahead of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s scheduled event in Pune.
The dispute reportedly followed the circulation of a video featuring a female COEP student. In her first video, posted on August 21, the student claimed that she had told ABP Majha that the university was allegedly charging students excessive fees. She subsequently said that she had made the statement under pressure and after being influenced by NSUI and Congress activists.
“I told the ABP Majha news channel that the college was charging excess fees from students. But we were actually manipulated, and pressure was created, due to which I said it. This was wrong. So I apologise to the college,” she said in the video.
