Dozens of journalists protested in front of the office of Mathura District Magistrate Sarvagya Ram Mishra today in solidarity with their colleagues, against whom the Ghaziabad district administration has filed an FIR.
The FIR was filed on April 28 against journalists of two TV channels for allegedly running a news report claiming Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ritu Maheshwari had taken bribe to allow construction of shops in residential areas.
"Filing of the FIR against journalists by the District Magistrate of Ghaziabad and the Ghaziabad Development Authority is a direct attack on the freedom of the press, since journalists only tried to expose the rampant corruption in the government department," the state vice president of the UP Journalist Association, Kamal Kant Upamanyu, said.
Upamanyu, who led the demonstration, said journalists would be forced to intensify their stir and surrender their pen and camera, if the FIR is not withdrawn and the Ghaziabad district magistrate is not shifted.
The journalists submitted a memorandum of their demands, addressed to the chief minister, to Mathura Chief Development Officer Pawan Gangwar.
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