AGARTALA, Jan 26 (TIWN): When people are celebrating 71st Republic Day of India, Modi Govt’s unofficial ‘Vernacular Press Act’ has rattled the media houses across the country long back as the Govt successfully snatched Freedom of Speech in last 6 years and took control over a major section of the media voice. In the name of various defamation cases, instead of courts, police officials have been harassing various media persons, police entered in media houses, Govt stopped advertizement and also stopped access, indeed totally changing the press history of the Independent India. In British India, the Vernacular Press Act (1878) was enacted to curtail the freedom of the Indian press and prevent the expression of criticism toward British policies. The Vernacular Press Act stated that any magistrate or Commissioner of Police had the authority to call upon any printer or publisher of a newspaper to enter into a bond, undertaking not to print a certain kind of material, and could confiscate any printed material it deemed objectionable.

The Act provided for submitting to police all the proof sheets of contents of papers before publication. What was seditious news was to be determined by the police, and not by the judiciary. 

So, what various media including Tripurainfoway.com along with social media users faced in last 21 months are the British Govt’s Vernacular Press Act invisibly and unofficially where cases are handled by police not by court. Police would arrest the journalists first, harass in the PS with mental tortures and then court producing comes. While producing before court a journalist was attacked by BJP last year in Tripura, who was arrested for his social media post.

From 2018 to 2019, Tripura’s various media houses were shutdown and few could not and rest survived after surrendering before the Govt. Tripura reportedly is just the mini version of India’s democracy as from UP to Delhi the situations of journalists, media persons remained more or less same. Among the various techniques to shutdown media voices, a daily newspaper Aajkaal was closed by BJP Govt after it stopped giving advertisement to the newspaper. At last this newspaper is closed leaving 33 employees jobless. Total 14 journalists were reporting from Agartala office itself who lost jobs.Earlier, another newspaper ‘Daily Desher Katha’ was shutdowned by the BJP Govt but under Court’s order it restarted but hawkers are not allowed to carry Daily Desher Katha. Various TV channels were too shutdowned by the BJP Govt whereas attacks on various media including Tripurainfoway indeed made already a history in Tripura's democracy butchering. 

However, bootlicker media were existing in the British era as well as now. The freedom of speech thus under the British like Act.