Deulgaon Raja journalists' bodies protest obscene social media comments against media
All four journalists' associations in Deulgaon Raja taluka submitted a joint memorandum to the tehsildar condemning abusive comments posted against journalists online.
Some miscreants posted objectionable comments and hurled obscene abuse on social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Office-bearers and members of all journalists' associations in Deulgaon Raja taluka came together to register their protest, sending a message of unity as journalists.
The protest was lodged through a memorandum submitted to the tehsildar. It was jointly submitted by office-bearers and members of the Taluka Patrakar Sangh, the Voice of Media Taluka Patrakar Sangh, the Matru Tirth Patrakar Sangh and the Kanbai Birje Patrakar Sangh.
The memorandum says a hunger strike has been under way in front of the municipal council for the past eight days. In connection with the strike, there is a WhatsApp group called "Kachra Depot Hatao Mohim". On this group, some people of perverse mentality from Umbarkhed, Ambhora, Jambhora, Jawalkhed and Asola Jahagir in the taluka posted objectionable comments about journalists.
The memorandum acknowledges that everyone has individual freedom in a democracy. However, it says, this freedom was overstepped and comments were made about journalists in filthy and obscene language. It also states that objectionable messages were posted on the Facebook post of Deepak Kayande, sarpanch of Swayam Dev.
While registering the protest, the memorandum also warned that public comments in filthy language about journalists would not be tolerated in future.
The memorandum submitted to the tehsildar bears the signatures of district vice-president Mushirkhan Kotkar, working president Sunil Matkar, district member Shivaji Wagh, Taluka Patrakar Sangh president Gajanan Tidke, Voice of Media taluka president Vilas Jagtap, Matru Tirth Patrakar Sangh founder Sushma Raut and Kanbai Birje Patrakar Sangh president Nandkishor Deshmukh.
Also signing were Suraj Gupta, Arjun Andhale, Santosh Jadhav, Mohammad Jamil, Mangesh Tidke, Prabhakar Mante, Rajesh Pandit, Munna Thakur, Pradip Hiwale, Pooja Kayande, Usha Dongre, Sheikh Kabir, Vijay Jadhav, Chandrabhan Jine, Rahul Nair, Devanand Zote, Shankar Shivarkar, Kishor Jamdar, Gulam Ahmed, Kshitij Darje, Ganesh Munde, Rafiq Sayyed, Shabbir Pathan, Ashraf Patel, Gajanan Ghuge, Sanmati Jain, Deepak Nagre, Amol Bobde and Vitthal Panase.
Office-bearers and members of all four journalists' associations in the taluka thus came together under a single memorandum. They have told the tehsildar plainly that they do not accept the language used about journalists on social media.
