New Delhi, August 29: Strongly condemning the arrest of Gautam Dheer, correspondent for The Indian Express in Chandigarh, the Editors' Guild today termed the Punjab police action as "arbitrary" and violative of principle of a free press and demanded his immediate release.
"This arbitrary arrest is a clear violation of Dheer's rights as a citizen and media professional. It is also violative of the principle of a free press, guaranteed by the Constitution," the guild said in a statement here.
It said that the Punjab police action indicated how prone institutions like the police are to abusing their authority in order to protect themselves from the public gaze and the rule of law. "The message Punjab police seeks to send by this action is that they will not allow media scrutiny into their wrong-doing", the guild said.
Strongly condemning the behaviour of Punjab police the guild demanded Dheer's immediate release and punishment for police personnel involved in this "high-handed and condemnable" incident. Dheer was arrested last night from his Panchkula residence on the charge of threatening a minor rape victim to withdraw the case against the accused.
