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Patna,(BiharTimes): Four days after his visit to the state the Chairman of the Press Council of India, Markandey Katju, on Tuesday constituted a three-member fact-finding team to look into complaints of violation of the freedom of Press in Bihar.
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Headed by Rajeev Ranjan Nag, the team will go into all aspects of the complaints of the violation of freedom of Press.
In a statement issued in New Delhi Katju said the team had been asked to make thorough investigation of the issues and report to him at the earliest.
According to him the version of all individuals and organisations, including that of the state government, should be considered by the team. The state government is requested to extend all cooperation to the team in this connection.
The statement said that when he was in Bihar last week he received several complaints that journalists find it difficult to discharge their duties. He was told that journalists were not able to carry out their responsibilities out of fear and that if they do they would lose their jobs or get transferred and be harassed in other ways, since the authorities put pressure on the proprietors to do so.
Katju said government advertisements are also cancelled if news against the government or any minister or official is published. If this is true, it amounts to the violation of the freedom of the Press guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
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