Constitutional Crisis in the Valley: Editors Guild Condemns Suppression of Legitimate Media

(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI 21, January, 2026— The Editors Guild of India (EGi) has issued a formal indictment of the ongoing administrative crackdown in Kashmir, characterizing the state’s actions as a “grave repression” of constitutional mandates.

Citing a pattern of procedural overreach, the Guild highlighted the repeated summoning of national and local correspondents to Srinagar’s Cyber Crime Station—a move legal experts view as an extra-judicial scrutiny of protected journalistic conduct.

The EGi expressed particular alarm over reports that journalists are being coerced into executing indemnity bonds and affidavits.

These legal instruments, purportedly designed to “maintain peace,” have been slammed by the Guild as dangerously vague and an arbitrary imposition of prior restraint.

In the absence of a formal legal basis or clarifying charge sheet from the authorities, the Guild maintains that such “coercive tactics” constitute a direct assault on the Fourth Estate, arguing that there is no statutory room for such summary interference within a democratic framework.

Terming the arbitrary issuance of summons, prolonged police questioning of journalists, and attempts to extract affidavits under alleged duress as nothing short of coercion and intimidation, the Guild has expressed grave concern over what it described as a systematic attempt to impede the media from discharging its legitimate professional duties.

In a strongly worded statement, the Guild observed that such practices strike at the very foundation of a free press and undermine the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and expression.

The Guild noted that this episode is not an isolated aberration but merely the latest in a disturbing continuum of increasingly threatening, intimidatory and coercive actions allegedly undertaken by the Kashmir Police against working journalists.

It pointed out that, over the past several years, innumerable instances have been reported wherein journalists were summoned to police stations, subjected to questioning without adequate legal basis, and made to face undue pressure in the course of routine newsgathering.

Emphasising that the role of the press in a democratic society is that of a public watchdog, the Guild cautioned that the misuse of police authority to summon journalists without transparency or lawful justification has a chilling effect on free speech and erodes public confidence in the rule of law.

Such actions, it asserted, not only deter independent reporting but also impermissibly interfere with the media’s core function of disseminating information in the public interest.

Calling upon the police and all concerned authorities to forthwith desist from resorting to such measures, the Guild urged strict adherence to established legal procedures and principles of fairness in all interactions with members of the press.

It further appealed to the authorities to act with transparency, restraint and accountability, ensuring that any engagement with journalists is guided strictly by due process of law and respect for constitutional freedoms.