Journalist bodies deplore freezing of NewsClick’s bank accounts by I-T department

NEW DELHI: Prominent journalist bodies on Wednesday deplored the freezing of the bank accounts of news portal “NewsClick” by the income-tax department and said the move that violated laws has in one stroke deprived close to 100 mediapersons and their families of a steady source of income.

“NewsClick” said on Tuesday that its bank accounts were frozen by the IT department and it will undertake legal measures against the “unjust and cruel” action.

“We, the undersigned journalist organisations, deplore in the strongest terms the freezing of the accounts of the web news portal NewsClick. This move by the IT department without any warning whatsoever has in one stroke deprived close to a hundred mediapersons and their families of a steady source of income,” the journalist bodies said in a joint statement.

With the seizure of the bank accounts, they noted, the salaries of all the employees, including the support staff, of the portal cannot be disbursed, “including for the 19 days of work in December”.

“This action by the IT department also flouts basic norms of natural justice and labour laws,” they said, adding, “The portal has maintained that it has always complied with tax regulations and that there was no basis for the IT department to freeze its accounts.”

The statement was jointly released by the Press Association, the Press Club of India, the Indian Women’s Press Corps, the Delhi Union of Journalists, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists and the Working News Cameramen’s Association (WNCA).

“It is important to note that the present development comes on the heels of sustained harassment in the form of ED raids and IT surveys in 2021 and the arrest of NewsClick’s founder Prabir Purkayastha and administrative officer Amit Chakraborty in October this year,” the journalist bodies said.

Purkayastha and Chakraborty have been booked under “draconian clauses” and it has been observed that such arrests of mediapersons have become “the norm rather than the exception”, they added.

“Both continue to be in judicial custody for an indefinite period of time,” they said.

The journalist bodies expressed concern over the “indiscriminate” seizure of electronic equipment, such as mobile phones and computers, under the pretext of investigation.