Editors for action against Guj police over TOI sedition issue

New Delhi, Jun 3 (UNI) The Editors Guild of India has expressed shock over the Ahmedabad police slapping charges of sedition against the Times of India and its resident editor, and described the action as draconian and reflective of a colonial mindset.

''The action of the City Police Commissioner O P Mathur smacks of vindictiveness as the newspaper had carried articles criticising the choice of Mathur as the Police Commissioner,'' it said in a statement here today.

Pointing out that sedition was a charge slapped on the Indian media by the colonial rulers during the freedom struggle, the Guild said abuse of sedition provision against the media negated the freedom granted to the citizens by the Constitution.

The editors urged the Government of Gujarat to ensure that the persecution of the Times of India and its journalists was stopped forthwith and action taken under the law for misuse of the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

UNI NAZ RR BST1824