Calls on government to send bill to a parliamentary committee for in-depth review
On August 6 in New Delhi, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) requested the government to send the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023 to a Parliamentary Select Committee so that the concerns vital to press freedom might be thoroughly discussed.
To update the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 (PRB), Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur has presented a bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Although the “Statement of Objects and Reasons” claims that the “proposed legislation is based on the spirit of upholding media freedom and ease of doing business,” according to a joint statement from EGI President Seema Mustafa, General Secretary Anant Nath, and Treasurer Shriram Pawar, “in effect, the new bill widens the powers of the State to have more intrusive and arbitrary checks into the functioning of newspapers and magazines than the exi”
The EGI statement expresses concern over the “expanded powers of the Press Registrar,” “new restrictions on citizens to bring out periodicals,” “the continuation of power to enter premises of news publications,” “the vagueness inherent in many of the provisions,” and “the ambiguity surrounding power to frame rules that can have adverse implications on press freedom.”
In a statement outlining its concerns, the EGI noted that the word “specified authority” in the definitions section grants jurisdiction to government entities beyond the Press Registrar to carry out the registrar’s tasks, which may potentially include police and other law enforcement organisations.
It is “deeply distressing” that the Press Registrar “may further delegate this power to other government agencies including law enforcement agencies,” the statement states.
According to the statement, the Guild has argued that the Press Registrar alone should have control over magazine registration under this law, and that no other government entity should have such authority.
According to the EGI statement, a person convicted of a “terrorist act or unlawful activity” or “for having done anything against the security of the State” can have their right to publish a periodical revoked and have their certificate of registration for a periodical cancelled by the Registrar under Sections 4(1) and 11(4).
Interestingly, these safeguards were left out of the PRB Act of 1867. The Guild is “deeply concerned” by the introduction of these new provisions and the way they can be misused to deny the right to bring out news publications to persons who are critical of governments. UAPA (which is the basis for defining “terrorist act” and “unlawful activity”) and other criminal laws, including Sedition, have been used liberally and arbitrarily against journalists and media organisations to suppress freedom of speech.
According to the EGI’s statement, the Press Registrar (and any other “specified authority”) would be able to enter the offices of a publication to “inspect or take copies of the relevant records or documents or ask any questions necessary to obtain any information required to be furnished” under the bill’s proposed Section 6(b).
The statement claims that the intention is to make the process less cumbersome for press organisations, but that such powers are continued from the earlier act, which is deeply concerning because of the intrusive nature of the authority to enter a press organisation.
