Srinagar, October 20, 2020 : The Indian authorities sealed the office of a prominent daily english news papers office in Sriangar. The Estates Department sealed the office of ‘Kashmir Times’ at Press Enclave in Srinagar, officials said. They, however, gave no reasons for the government action. The English daily is headquartered in Jammu and is published from both the regions of the Territory.The newspaper owners said that no notice of cancellation or eviction was served on them and “nothing in writing” was given to them.“Our office in Srinagar was locked without any due process of law. No notice – whether of cancellation or eviction – was served to us,” Kashmir Times owner Anuradha Bhasin told media men.
Bhasin termed the move as “vendetta” against her “for speaking out against the government” and moving the Supreme Court against media restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir after the Indian government abrogated Article 370 in August last year. “The day I went to court last year, that very day, the state government advertisements to Kashmir Times were stopped,” she said.
Earlier, the authorities locked the office of a local wire agency, Kashmir News Service, in Srinagar. The management of KNS in a statement said officials of the Estate Department barged into the office and directed the staffers to pack up their belongings hurriedly and locked the office. A spokesman of Jammu Kashmir Editors Forum condemned the move.
Anuradha Bhasin@AnuradhaBhasin_Today, Estates Deptt locked our office without any due process of cancellation & eviction, same way as I was evicted from a flat in Jammu, where my belongings including valuables were handed over to "new allottee". Vendetta for speaking out! No due process followed. How peevish!
Speaking with Clarion India from her home in Jammu, Bhasin recalled what her staffers in Srinagar told her. “They (the officials ) just came in while staff was busy with work, asked them to come outside and put a lock there.”
She said the action was taken without serving any notice. “No due process was followed. No eviction or cancellation notice was served to allow us to move out. Our infrastructure including furniture and computers and everything is still there.”
She said that the staff are managing the makeshift arrangement but added that it would be difficult to communicate between Srinagar and Jammu office.
She is among the few critical persons who continue raising voice against the government policies particularly over “media suppression” but it has come with a price.
In August last year when the government imposed digital siege in Jammu and Kashmir Bhasin moved to the Supreme Court to get the ban lifted. Five months later the court ruled that freedom of speech and expression and freedom to practice any profession over the medium of the internet enjoys constitutional protection under Article 19(1)(a) and Article 19(1)(g).
Fahad Shah@pzfahad Govt has sealed Kashmir Times daily newspaper's Srinagar office today. It is weeks after its executive editor, @AnuradhaBhasin_, was evicted from a govt residential flat in Jammu. Being a strong voice against curbs on media always, these are tactics to stop such voices
Aakash Hassan@AakashHassan
How Kashmir Times and its editor @AnuradhaBhasin_ is being targeted reminds us:
The state is trying every overt and covert means to stifle press freedom, and voice of those who speak for it, in #Kashmir. In solidarity with Kashmir Times.
Anuradha Bhasin@AnuradhaBhasin_
Today, Estates Deptt locked our office without any due process of cancellation & eviction, same way as I was evicted from a flat in Jammu, where my belongings including valuables were handed over to "new allottee". Vendetta for speaking out! No due process followed. How peevish!
Meanwhile Reporter Sans Frontiers, a global media watchdog, said in a tweet that that they were “appalled by this new attack on press freedom in the valley”.
RSF@RSF_inter
�� #India: The office of The #Kashmir Times, one of the most respected newspapers of the region, has just been sealed by the local govt, after its editor @AnuradhaBhasin_ was recently manhandled. @RSF_inter is appalled by this new attack on press freedom in the valley. @pzfahad 8:51 PM · Oct 19, 2020
Over the last several months, journalists in Kashmir have been complaining of harassment as few of them were booked under strict laws.
Shams Irfan@ShamsIrfan27