🎙️ Kolkata Police Is On An Intimidation Spree: What This Means

🎙️ You must tune-in to this one!

Dear Readers (and Listeners),

This one is not a regular promotional email. I urge you to go through it in full.

The horrific Kolkata Rape Case has shocked the nation. But what is happening over and above this tragedy is shocking too — the brazen attempts to protect the perpetrators and intimidate the common citizens raising their voices.

In the latest episode of Swarajya's podcast What This Means, my colleague Diksha Yadav talks to Shefali Vaidya who too was sent a notice by Kolkata Police.

Vaidya shares what happened when she first learned about the notice from the Kolkata Police and why her lawyer advised her to delete the post.

"I want to understand on what basis did the Kolkata police sent me a notice when in 2023 there is a Supreme Court judgement in some other case where the Supreme Court has said that members of the editors guild journalists cannot be arrested even if what they are publishing is fake because they are doing their job. This is a Supreme Court judgement," says Shefali Vaidya in conversation with Diksha.

She also expressed her concerns about the poor state of law and order in West Bengal, including the intimidation faced by many citizens expressing their frustration and anger on social media by sharing information.

"I am just a citizen journalist. I am asking questions. I am not even writing a fake report. I am just questioning the Kolkata police and want to know some answers... So the law is only applicable, and the judgements are only applicable to certain editors of the guild, and privileged journalists and not ordinary citizens like me. That is something I would want to know from the judiciary as well," Vaidya continued.

In another incident, a young woman shared her ordeal about how Kolkata Police raided her house for a simple post on X. The incident left this woman's mother and brother in trauma.

"My mother was sobbing and calling every person she knows to handle this situation, she was helpless... my brother apologised with his hands joined [saying], please forgive her," said the woman in her post.

The police's reply was "Ask your sister to not act so smart, her career can be ruined over it."

So we again urge you to take some time out and listen to this episode with Shefali Vaidya. It's important. You can tune in on:

🎧 Spotify

📱 Swarajya Mobile App

Until next time,

Anmol N Jain