Shillong, Sept 17: The Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) on Tuesday appealed to the press fraternity, content creators and citizens to reject the notification issued by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) under the Meghalaya Communications Policy 2024 ordering everyone who intends to disseminate anything that the Govt may deem to be news to register with DIPR.
“Apart from the blatant illegality of this order, because policy is not a notified law but merely a set of guidelines, this order by the Government of Meghalaya goes against the Constitutional Guarantees of Freedom of Expression and Press Freedom,” TUR leader Angela Rangad said in a statement.
She added, “By giving government the illegal and wide-ranging power to decide what information disseminated is against the interest of the state, public order, decency, morality or involves defamation of any individual or institution or that is likely to incite the commission of any offense, this policy is arbitrary and fringes on our freedoms. This wide-ranging power, for instance, can allow Meghalaya government to take action against any platform that publishes this appeal because they can interpret this appeal as an incitement of journalists to defy this notification by the government. It is worth reminding that even the Union Government was forced to keep a similar Broadcast Bill in abeyance because it would have had chilling effects on press freedom and freedom of expression.”
Rangad also expressed shock that the Government doesn’t know the difference between law and policy or even that the questions of Press come under the concurrent list of the Indian constitution and is what is called an occupied field of legislation.
“Even a common citizen who chooses to criticize the corruption of the government on social media can also be convicted as per this notification by the Meghalaya Government. We are also shocked that various media bodies did not challenge this policy at the stage of its formulation,” she said.
“Meghalaya Communication Policy 2024 is not only a danger to Press Freedom and Freedom of Speech but also goes against laws such as the Right to Information Act 2005,” Rangad stated while requesting the media fraternity and citizens to stand up to this authoritarian notification and policy.
