UP: Arresting Journalists For Exam Paper Leak Will Not Help
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-04-05 13:59:26
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
The UP police have
arrested journalists Ajit Ojha and Digvijay Singh, of Hindi daily Amar
Ujala, and Manoj Gupta, who works with another Hindi newspaper, for their
alleged roles in the leak of the Class 12 English question paper of the Uttar
Pradesh school examination board last month. These journalists had got
the leaked Class 10 Sanskrit and Class 12 English papers from their sources and
got them published in the media. The police wanted them to disclose their
sources but they refused (of course it is not mandatory for journalists to disclose
their sources and no one can force them to do so) and hence they were arrested.
The journalists have said that they are being targeted and framed for having
exposed the leak. Calling the move "arbitrary" the Press Club of India has asked
for their immediate release.
It is no surprise that the UP administration has arrested three journalists who exposed the exam paper leak recently. Most administrations hide their inefficiency and corruption by blaming others. But arresting journalists is like penalizing the postman for the disturbing missive received in post. If the leaked papers were available in the market and if the sources could procure them for the journalists, was it not their duty to report this? Instead of probing the matter and finding out who leaked the paper from the examination board, the printing press or any of the schools, the UP cops have taken the easy route of going after the journalists. But this is wrong.
The problem is in the UP education department. Maybe this time vigilant journalists were able to expose the matter with the help of their sources. Maybe in the past there were similar leaks that were not exposed as journalists did not get to know of it. Hence, the administration will do well to initiate a thorough probe to get to the bottom of the matter and release the journalists who were just doing their duty.
