The accounts of three independent journalists were temporarily suspended by Instagram while they were reporting on child deaths in Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district. The Press Club of India condemned the suspension and expressed concerns about intimidation or silencing of journalists engaged in public interest work.
On Monday, the social media platform Instagram briefly suspended the accounts of Monika Singh, Bindu Gurjar, and Lokbhadra Singh. All three had been reporting on the deaths of Adivasi children in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, highlighting hospital mismanagement, struggles of ASHA workers, and other issues related to protests by Adivasi groups. The journalists were reporting on allegations of around 311 suspected child deaths over approximately three months.
After his account was restored, Lokbhadra Singh alleged that attempts were being made to ‘harass the journalists and break their spirit’, but that they would not back down. The Press Club of India strongly condemned the suspension of the journalists’ Instagram accounts and expressed concerns about intimidation or silencing of journalists engaged in public interest work.
The press body noted that the journalists faced repeated pressure from Balaghat district officials to meet local authorities privately while they were reporting on the incident. After they declined to meet the authorities, the journalists were allegedly asked to vacate their hotel rooms. They were also allegedly followed by plainclothes police officers and their movements were monitored for two days, the Press Club said.
The Indian Youth Congress In-charge Manish Sharma met the three journalists on Tuesday in Delhi and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh was attempting to silence independent journalism. According to Scroll, a mysterious measles and malaria outbreak in the region went undetected for at least two months and led to the deaths of at least 25 children from the Baiga and Gond tribes.
Source:
Scroll.in
