27 March 2024 | The Wire

New Delhi: Sixteen prominent academics released a statement expressing concern over the prolonged detention without trial of writers, journalists and activists who were critical of the Union government.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has voiced his support for this statement, among whose authors are author Amitav Ghosh and political philosopher Martha Nussbaum.

“Prabir Purkayastha, a 75-year old senior journalist, author, and founding editor of the independent news portal Newsclick, whose office and home were repeatedly searched for weeks on end for incriminating evidence without any being found, has been arrested and, despite being imprisoned for nearly six months, is yet to be served a charge-sheet; the harmful effects of such an action on media independence are obvious for everyone to see,” read the statement by the sixteen academics.

“Others have been incarcerated even longer, such as those arrested in the [Bhima]-Koregaon case who (with the exception of those whom the courts have released on bail on medical or technical-legal grounds) have been languishing in prison for over five years without any trial,” it added…..

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