Pratap Simha who defended fake news editor is part of Press Council
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday cancelled his own government’s controversial order that categorically stated journalists would be punished for generating fake news and said that the matter should be addressed only by the Press Council of India.
However, the Editors Guild while acknowledging the Prime Minister’s withdrawal of the fake news order said it was "deeply disturbed" at the government's selection of the Press Council.
The Press Council, which has limited powers, was reconstituted by the government on March 16.
Among the members nominated by the Lok Sabha is Pratap Sinha, a BJP MP from Karnataka, who defended the founder-editor of Postcard News Mahesh Hegde arrested for fake news last week.
— Pratap Simha (@mepratap) March 29, 2018 ">
Today morning Coward Congress Govt (Karnataka) arrested @mvmeet Mahesh Vikram Hegde under unconnected IT act 66, that too by using CCB! Shame on you @INCKarnataka. pic.twitter.com/SZGUJKsfzi
— Pratap Simha (@mepratap) March 29, 2018
Hegde was arrested for falsely claiming in a social media post on March 18 that a Jain monk from Karnataka had got injured after being attacked by a Muslim youth. It was found that the monk had been injured in a road accident.
However, Simha was one of those BJP leaders who tweeted in Hegde’s support.
Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde and BJP MP Maheish Girri were other party leaders who tweeted in support of Mahesh Hegde.
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Assam to lift all cases against Koch Rajbongshis in Foreigners' Tribunals: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
Guwahati, Apr 4 (PTI): The Assam cabinet has decided to lift all cases pending against people from the Koch Rajbongshi community in the Foreigners' Tribunals, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
They will also no longer carry the tag of 'D' or doubtful voters, he said.
''There are 28,000 cases pending in different Foreigners' Tribunals in the state against people of the community. The cabinet has taken a historic decision of lifting the cases with immediate effect,'' Sarma said at a press conference here after the cabinet meeting.
The government believes that the Koch Rajbongshis are an indigenous community of the state and they are an inextricable part of ''our social and cultural fabric'', he asserted.
The people of this community are poor and have suffered a lot over the years, he said.
''They will no longer carry the tag of foreigners or ‘D’ voters,'' the CM said.
Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, particularly in Assam, established to determine if a person residing in India is a "foreigner" as defined by the Foreigners Act of 1946, based on the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964.
These tribunals are designed to address matters related to citizenship and the presence of “foreigners” in India, specifically focusing on cases where someone is suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
There are 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals across Assam.
The Koch Rajbongshis have a sizeable presence in Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and parts of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, and they demand Scheduled Tribe status.
