By RINA,
Lucknow : A Bahujan Samaj Party member has lodged a First Information Report (FIR)against eight local Urdu newspapers. This action has been criticized from all of the quarters. The state president of Congress Dr. Rita Bahugna while addressing a press conference termed it as smothering the freedom of expression. “The chief minister Ms. Mayawati is acting like an autocrat who could not fathom political advertisements and reports against herself and with help of official machinery trying to curb the journalists” she said.
“A First Information Report lodged by a Bahujan Samaj Party worker against the Urdu Newspapers is a clear manifestation that the fourth estate is being suppressed in the state. The newspapers which are not echoing the tongue of Bahujan Samaj Party are being victimized” said Dr. Rita Bahugna Joshi.
This was severely criticized by the union minister for science and technology, Kapil Sibal, deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha K. Rahman Khan, SP candidate Nafisa Ali, Congress Spokesman Abhishek Singhvi, former BJP union minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and the spokesman of SP Rajendra Singh.
Although the Bahujan Samaj Party member Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta had denied the report that he had lodged the FIR against the eight Urdu newspapers.
The Bahujan Samaj Party activist Omkar Singh a resident of Shivani Vihar in Kalyanpur had lodged a FIR in the Hazratganj police station against eight Urdu newspapers for allegedly maligning the image of Bahujan Samaj Party. In FIR he alleged that the eight Urdu newspapers had published matter against the Bahbujan Samaj Party which is a clear violation of the Public Representatives Act.