annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

Chapter28
Freedom of the press
While the government of India generally respected freedom
of speech and expression guaranteed under the
constitution of India, the State governments, political
party activists and various armed opposition groups often violated
this right. At least one journalist was killed by the armed opposition
group Maoist Communist Centre in Bihar, while many faced
physical violence from the political party activists, police, and the
armed opposition groups.
The press in Tamil Nadu faced systematic assault from the State
government in 2002 and 2003. On 18 May 2004, Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister, Jayalalithaa announced her government’s decision to
withdraw all the defamation cases brought by the Government
against the media, including those against The Hindu, which figured
in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in November 2003. 1 On 30
August 2004, the Tamil Nadu government told the Additional
Sessions Court in Chennai that it had issued an order dropping two
of the 20 defamation cases filed against The Hindu. One case related
to a news item published on 2 December 2002 with the heading
“Security cordon for Chief Minister throws IT interviews out of
gear” while the second published a day later pertained to the
replacement of state Chief Secretary Suganeswar by Lakshmi
Pranesh. 2 On 17 September 2004, Tamil Nadu government filed an
affidavit in the Supreme Court, along with a copy of the
“Government Order” issuing directions for withdrawal of all the 125
defamation cases against The Hindu and other newspapers and
magazines pending before the Additional Sessions Court, Chennai
and the Madras High Court. 3