(Aditya Shaw,Intern Journalist): The Kolkata High Court has said that a reporter is expected to make people honestly aware of illegal activities. The court said that proper reporting of such incidents would help the administration in taking appropriate steps against the culprits.
An advance bail petition was filed by a journalist from Birbhum district of West Bengal who published a new article about alleged illegal sand mining on an online portal. The court accepted the plea that there was no need for the reporter to be detained for questioning. A division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Vivek Chaudhary said that the article stated that illegal mining of sand occurred between the lockdowns and some people in Birbhum district were illegally hauling sand from trucks from the banks of the Ajay river.
Subsequently, Pervez Alam Siddiqui had filed a complaint of trespassing, extortion and criminal intimidation against the reporter at Ilambazar police station in Birbhum. Accepting the anticipatory bail plea of reporter Abhishek Dutt Rao, the court said last week that a reporter is expected to make people honestly aware of all kinds of illegal activities. He said, “Proper reporting of this type of incident will help the administration to take appropriate steps against the crime.”
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