When the issue of fundamental rights was being debated in our constituent assembly, prominent nationalist leaders including Professor KT Shah and Seth Damodar Swarup pointed to the lack of safeguards and rights granted to the press.
They questioned why freedom of press found no distinct mention in our Constitution.
To this, the chairman of the drafting committee Dr.
BR Ambedkar replied that the “Press has no special rights which cannot be exercised by a citizen in his individual capacity.
They are citizens when they write, and are merely exercising their right of expression.”
But in the following years, the state has often exceeded its monopolistic authority to clamp down on free speech and expression.
Mediapersons who have done commendable work in unearthing stories that go unnoticed, or dared to speak the truth, or opposed the dispensation's straightjacketing have suffered incarceration with criminal cases slammed against them.
Often many continue to languish in jails on unsubstantiated charges, a trend that disproportionately affects journalists writing for regional platforms in local languages.
One such detention that incited public sentiment was AltNews co-founder Muhammad Zubair's arrest for an allegedly 'offensive tweet' dating back to 2018. His incarceration generated immense hue and cry and the Supreme Court ultimately granted him bail in July 2022, nearly a month after he was arrested.
Likewise, activist-journalist Teesta Setalvad was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on September 2, 2022 in a case of alleged forgery and fabrication of records in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
Setalvad was detained in Mumbai by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on June 25 and the apex court ordered her release "based on peculiar facts, including the fact that the appellant happens to be a lady," The Hindu reported.
But many other journalists who dared to dissent in their reportage have not been spared so early.
Here is a list of media professionals whose bail applications have been doing rounds, with 'freedom' eluding the picture.