| News Details |
| DUJ stands by veteran Journalist Ajit Anjum | | 
New Delhi, July 15 (Scoop News)-The Delhi Union of Journalists is shocked at the lodging of an FIR against veteran journalist Ajit Anjum in Begusarai. The FIR lodged in the name of a block official is a crude attempt at curbing coverage of the Election Commission's arbitrary handling of an intensive survey and revision of the electoral rolls of Bihar.
Anjum's YouTube series of detailed ground reports from the interiors of Bihar suggested that in some blocks electoral forms were being accepted without photographs and documents.
The revision of the electoral roll and the unprecedented demand that people prove their right to vote and, by implication, their right to citizenship by providing documents which the majority do not possess raises questions. The short timeline given for the entire exercise is bound to lead to administrative irregularities, something that both journalists like Anjum and some newspapers have reported.
The fact is that the Bihar government has not cared to issue birth certificates to most of its citizens, few people have caste certificates or domicile documents, the majority do not own property or have documents to prove ownership of land, many are denied schooling ànd migration is the major survival strategy. In these circumstances people anxious to stay on the electoral roll are providing whatever they possess. The Election Commission initially refused to accept the basic documents that the majority do have: Aadhar cards and voter identity cards. Àfter a Supreme Court ruling they are now accepting copies of these documents but not always providing receipts. The speed of the exercise means that many will be denied voting rights.
It is evident that officials were rattled by the reports of irregularities in the entire process and resorted to the FIR against Anjum to deter other journalists from similar coverage.
We salute Anjum for his bold reporting and demand that the FIR for criminal trespass, obstructing a public servant on duty and other grounds be immediately withdrawn and journalists be permitted to report freely from the state.
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