New Delhi: A day after Attorney General KK Venugopal suggesting possible usage of Official Secrets Act against the media, several media organisations including The Editors Guild of India, on Thursday condemned the attempts to intimidate the Fourth Estate.
"The Attorney General's statements made in open court suggesting that the publication of such reports and documents imperiled national security and therefore should be deemed as criminal, has the potential of sending out a chilling effect to one and all in the medai," said a joint statement by the Press Club of India, Indian Women's Press Corp and the Press Association.
The statement also called for a revisal of the Official Secrets Act as well as the defamation law given the potential of their misuse against the Fourth Estate.
The statement added that the "implications and ramifications of the statements made by the top most legal officer are not only for the media but also for the sources of information that journalists rely on...and contradict the very idea of a free press in an open democracy.
The Editor's Guild of India also condemned the Attorney General's comments before a Supreme Court Bench, seeking to dismiss petitions to review the court's judgement on the Rafale deal.