Statement Condemning the Arrest of Bahujan Journalist Prashant Kanojia

Prashant Kanojia

On 18 August 2020, Bahujan journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested by Uttar Pradesh police. He is being held in custody over a tweet he had forwarded, which he had immediately deleted upon learning that it contained fake news. This is a routine social media behaviour that one observes on the platform almost every day.

However, this was used as a pretext for arresting Kanojia. Furthermore, the Allahabad High Court accepted the Uttar Pradesh government’s request that it be given four weeks to respond to his bail plea. This ensures that Kanojia remains incarcerated for an extended period of time.

This is not the first time Kanojia has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police over a tweet. In a similar incident last year, he was detained for ‘objectionable comments’ against the Uttar Pradesh chief minister on Twitter. On that occasion the Supreme Court had ordered his immediate release. However, the harassment has continued.

It is clear that the arrest and detention of Kanojia is politically motivated and driven by vendetta. It fits a larger pattern of Uttar Pradesh administration attempting to silence dissenting voices. In recent times it has repeatedly gone after activists and journalists alike using questionable legal pretexts. This is a clear attack on the right to free speech, and the Uttar Pradesh government needs to be held accountable for attempting to create this ‘chilling effect’ by intimidating and silencing its critics.

Prashant Kanojia is a well-respected journalist with a big social media following. Being an outspoken Bahujan with a mass following, who consistently raises issues of caste-based exclusion and violence, his arrest has to be seen as an attack on the anti-caste activists. We, the undersigned, condemn these intimidation and harassment tactics of the Uttar Pradesh government and demand Kanojia’s early and timely release.

We stand in solidarity with Prashant Kanojia. #StandWithPrashantKanojia

Jai Bhim!

Signatories:

 

Tejas Harad
Meena Kandasamy
SnehaJanaki
Raksha Singh.
Vandit Jain
Vaishnavi Suresh
Sidhant arya
Nikita Sonavane
Sneha Krishnan
Safvana
Samira Nadkarni
Gurmehar Kaur
Megha Sanyal
Ravikant Kisana
Deepak
Surbhi Karwa
Anurag Prabhakar
Parishit singh
Ananya Iyer
Jeetu Kumar
Pamela Philipose
Divya Kandukuri
Abhilash Durugkar
Siddhesh Gautam
Stuti Mamen
Anand
Neha Shetty
Akhil Rana
Hritik Lalan
Pragati Kulkarni
Kevin Vegda
Ishita
Swati
Gehna Kapoor
Antara Telang
Ila Ananya
Aditya Naique
Manasi Elise Tomy
Neeru
Sridhar Jeripothula
Saurabh Lokhande
Jagisha Arora
Pallavi Pratibha
Arun T
Geeta Seshu
Ananya Pandey
Ahalya Ganesh
Damni Kain
Surabhi Anans
Rajvi
Aabha
Vaishnavi Puranik
Bhanuj Kappal
Priyanka Borpujari
aakash r
Sandhya Ravishankar
Rohin Kumar
Avinash Kumar
Hardik
Hridayanka
Mahesh Rajput
Sahil Valmiki
Smriti Nevatia
Amelia Correa
Chayanika Shah
Neha kamble
Uday Kukde
Ayush Tiwari
Kartika
Srishti
Sijimon N C
Sukanya Shantha
Kanishk
Senthalir
Karthika
Revati Laul
Shreya Ila Anasuya
Shraddha
Ajikumar e p
Vinay Sharma
Prabhat Sharan
arjun soman
Roshini Ross
Bijulal P G
Mandar
Snehashish Das
Mayur Araj
Sabah Maharaj
Spoorthy
Jyoti Kalash
Nikita Ramteke
Kajal Savanur
Kaushik Raj
Apeksha Priyadarshini
Abhishek S
Sanjana
Rahul Vavhalih
Sangeeta Goel
Shilpa Rao
Prafulla Sonawane
Priyanka Paul
Vinodharani
Ananya Sairaman
Rishija Singh
Mahesh Choudhary
Avnish
Suraj Waghmare
Debarati
Teesta Setalvad
Sunaina bose
Manoj Yadav
R.k.Misra
Aadil Ikram
Aarti Nair
Visvak P
Radhika N
Sakshi Jain
Shreya bhandari
Rashad Ullah Khan
Sanket Dahat
Keerthana Nimmagadda
Pooja Narayan
Devanshi Sarin
Neema pramod
Parul Soni
Shahid Tantray
Preeti
Khushbu Sharma
Aparna
Mayank
Pranjali Bhagwat
Fathima
Prateek
Vedant Deshpande
Samriddhi Dhiman
Sanskriti Rajkhowa
Sandhya R.
Radhika Singh
Anwesha Bhattacharya
Vamsi
Yashwant Zagade
Sravanthi Bhamidi
Rinan Shah
Nupur Rastogi
Supritha
Cynthia Stephen
Janakiraman C
Kunal
Vishal
Meenakshi
Jaya Narayan
Vani Sharma
Tanvi Desai
Amla
Sreya Roy Chowdhury
Mukesh
Shireen Azam
Sreeja
Aarathi
Akshay M
Shaista
Krishana Gautam
Vineetha Venugopal
Shardul
Pallavi Rao
Tongam Rina
Shivani
Ravinder Kaur
Nioshi
Vijay Wankhede
Bharti
Sakshi Rai
Saeeduddin Faridi
aindri C
Pritha
Deepa
Shripad
Asha Balachandran
Mohit kumar
Jyoti Bania
Uttam
Joshita
Rigo Riba
Ritu Kochar
Abdulla
Sudha N
Eram
Jit Hazarika
Suvarna salve
Vineet
Sitamsini
Aditi
Sonia
Sowmya Bakka
Abhijeet
Suruchi
Gunjan K
Prakriti
S. Das
Pragathi R
Bhoomika Pandhare
Madhuvanthi
Nandan M
Kiran
Salim Saboowalla
Bharathy Singaravel
Jyotika Tomar
Karthik
Badal narnaware
Rajnish
Rashmi M
Aarushi Mohan
Suryakant Waghmore
Lucio Miranda
Sumeet Samos
Kanika
Jegath Raj.J
Maidi
Priyanka Sharma
sandeep kumar
ishanavi bajpai
Srishty
Aditya
Sumegha Premchandar
Sahana
Deepti
Indulekha Aravind
Deepali salve
Anutosh Shikher Saroj
Anoushka
Shoaib
Aayush Gagneja
Vikas verma
Sneha Rajaram
Pooja Verma
Soumya
RANJIT KUMAR
N Arvind Karthick
Jahnavi Uppuleti
Manish
Akash Mehta
Ruchir Lad
Suchitra
P Das
Sam Hunter
Miles Knecht
Akshay Balan
Sarayu Pani
Richa Mukerjee
Manoj
Danish Budhani
Harish Sridharan
Japleen Pasricha
Rakshitha Poojary
Irawati Anand
Neelakantan
Shlok Shah
soumyaa
Sayani Dasgupta
Kavya M
Puneet Prakash
Sonali V
Mdm hussain
Nithin
Harsh kinger
himanshu
Tapasya
Vijay sable
Karan R
Shantanu Nevrekar
Greeshma Kuthar
Anjali
Joel Joseph
Alankrita
Sanika
Firasha
Kunal Bhagat
Poornima M
Nayanika Mathur
Anubhav
Oli
NIRAJ
Sakshi Rawat
Justin Rao
Yogesh S
Ahaan Verma
Janak Parmar
Archana Bhardwaj
Nidhi K
Raju shakya
Sam
prabha
Nikitha
Akshay J
Navneet singh
Manhar
Ashwini Yadav
Manoj Kanaujia
Alka Singh Verma
Deepak Malghan
Mita Deshpande
Santosh Kumari
Anbarasan Perumal
Orron Rade
Shailendra Rai
Navoday
Akash Bhattacharya
Bijaya Biswal
Kavya Chowdhry
Dharamveer
Ranjitha Kumar
Sayantani Nath
Shruti
Rishika Jain
Pooja Sharma
Rohit
Sanjana
amit
Sheenu
Vastavika Gaikwad
Vinita
Pravallika
Aparna
Manas Geeta Arun
Muhammad Asad
M. Kumar
Raghav kumar
Raj k
Pappu Anuragi
Ashwini
Nirupama
S Patel
Kabilan s
Aiman Khan
Sanjeevni
Anurag Singh
Suraj kamble
Ashirwad Wakade
Rahul Kumar
Susruta Mukherjee
Anshula Martoliya
Basawa Prasad Kunale
Suchitra Vijayan
Sonwane Harshraj B
Kartik
उपेंद्र
Vansha Jain
Ajay bairwa
Shravani
Amit
Rohit Jha
Ani
Shalini
Anisha
Kanishk
Deep
Jessica K
Nikita Deshpande
asha
Upender reddy
Kshitij Ghorpade
Akanksha
Pushpa singh
Anu Gopi
N. Jayaram
Sarah Deo
Jatin Chugh
Al Haris
Harshad
jasvina sodhi
Alok Verma
Amol
Vinay Sreenivasa
Prashant Nema
Anushka Sen
Mohammad Abu Nasar
Chandrashekaran
Rohit Azad
Sheeva Dubey
Rossi D’Souza
Ankit yadav
Likhitha N
Sayak Dasgupta
Vasudhaa Narayanan
Shreya Barua
Rachel John
Shreyas Srinivasan
Shweta
Dharmanshu
Yamini
Kavita
Ajitha G S
Anil Wagde
Surbhi Mahajan
Sri Raghunath Joshi
Gitika Talwar
Kavita
Aditi
Kuldeep gehlot
Umashankar
Chandrabhan
Madhavan S
Samay K
Govind Sai
Arun Dinakar
Phalguni Desai
ALOK RAJAN
Eshan Fotedar
Arijit Sen
Durgesh Solanki
Prashant Dixit
Aavika Dhanda
daniel
Conrad Barwa
Rahul Kumar
Kalyani Monteiro Jayasankar
Abhilasha
Anubhav Singh
Anjali Chandawarkar
Arfi Lamba
Suraj kanojia
[email protected]
Mitaja
Md Nasim
Manish Kumar
Kanika
Abhrajyoti Chakraborty
Ajeya Kannan
Bidisha Mahanta
Shoa Bakhsh
Gayatri Lakshmi Narayanan
Shruti
Anushree Gupta
Subhashish Kumar
Sohini C
Savitha Ganesh
Rajesh Sharma
Nidhi Chhamb
Ankita Srivastava
Arushi Garg
Vaibhav Kamble
Anjali
Tanya S
Puneet singh
Prasad S
Sabita Lahkar
Swapnil
Monika Gupta
Ritika Sahay
Shivani Singh
Prajakta M.
Iqbal
Ayushi Srivastava
Anushree Mishra
Boishakhi Dutt
Khagendra khatterjee
Pawan jeph
Soumya Jayanti
Charanjot Singh
Rupsa Nag
Kanika K
Udita Mukherjee
Anurag Chittawar
Pranati Chitti
divya s
Abhiram
Dr Aniket Kamble
Saumya Srivastava
M. Z.
Benson
Rakesh Sengupta
Ashira Biswas
Chitral
Srilata Sircar
Vivek
Aditi Parashar
bhaskar
Aditya Lakhina
Nikita Sud
Meghna Chaudhuri
Dr Rohit nirala
Ankitha
Syed Taraq Quadri
Pranjal Shrirange
Radhe saloniya
Ritul
Ruchi Marshal
Sri Sriniti
Ravi Shankar
Anjali Monteiro
KP Jayasankar
Muskaan Sharma
Venkatesh
Souradeep Roy
Swapnil Nikade
Jack Smith
Dania Siddiq
Rishika Arya
Anita Dube
Ram Singh
Shreyash Ramteke
Dishant
Neeraja N
Aashi Shaikh
Madhav Pandit
Prasanna Raj Ambedkar
Anandarupa Dhar
Abhishek
Pavithra Venkat
Omkar shinde
Abritty Kisku
Nidhin D.
Debabrata Ghosh
Pankaj Kumar Paswan
PRASANTA BISWAS
Rakhee
Sugandha
Lakshyata
Lois Sofia
Dimum pertin
Aprajita Sarcar
Pragati Thapa
Arnab
Vijay Krishna
Vibhuti
Mukul walke
Vinit
Rajani Rao
ARUNDHATI GHOSH
Nikitha Bhanurathan
Abhijit Parad
Riyaa Ariwala
Yogesh Wagh
Professor Kishalay Bhattacharjee
Ezhilarasan S
Manjiri Indurkar
Nilesh Deotale
Sehal Dahiwale
Jeetu
Priyank
Jawed
Fahim Akhtar
Kavita Krishnan
Vipal Durge
Pranava
Akanksha Singh
Johanna Deeksha
Clifton D’ Rozario
Parth Shrimali
Sripriya
Ujwal KP
Vikram Patil
Pravindra
Chaittanya Kumar
Varun S
Ameya Bokil
ashwani Kumar
Saanvi
Laya Lakkaraju
Rochi
Prakash Rathod
Susanta Sahoo
Manoj kumar jatav
Bhagirath Prasad Meena
Rashmitha
Hiren Algotar
Nadika Nadja
Kiruba Munusamy
Shruti
Mayadevi Murthy
akriti paracer
Riya Sawant
Prachi Salve
Fiona Vaz
Sarah Naqvi
Harish
Surshree Meshram
Swetha
Neha Ayub
Rutuja Thukarul
Ritika Varshney
Nikitha gokuldas
Samarpita Chanda
Parinita Sanap
sana
Reetika Subramanian
Dhara Gorasiya
Vaishali Janarthanan
Nikhat Hetavkar
Stuti Mehta
Jayshankar Ramu
Amit
Meet
Abhirami G
Ashu valmiki
Shreyasi Rao
Iqbaljeet Singh
Sunidhi Sharma
Sahaj Kishen
Siddhant Garud
Purvi Rajpuria
Pallavi Krishnappa
Raeka Sharma
Puneet Bansal
Raeka Sharma
Mirza Shahbaz Beg
Kalyani Thakare
Rajat Lohat
Aparna Rawat
tanya yadav
Mayoori
Anish Talpade
Meera Sanghamitra
Kashvi Verma
Raja Bagga
Sushanth
Kamna
Monica
Gia Singh Arora
Saira Susan
Nikita C.
Sakhi Chahande
Kiranjyot Kaur
Debopriya Mondal
Shijoy
Pardeep Attri
Shone Satheesh
Meghna
Shivani Yadav
Nilim Dutta
Sunil
Dervish Paliwal
Arpit
Rajasekaran
Rachelle C
Dishant Batule
Meher
Abijith KP
Vinay Gohil
Kkrao
Manasi
Swati Chintala
Harshita singh
Kishan Kumar
Rashi Raj
Navya Shivahare
Yogesh
Shalini
Jay Rathod
Satvik
Virendra
Kartikeya Jain
Shalini Nair
Udit Murarka
Priyanshi
Amandeep
Varnika
Mushkbar Haider
Govind Sivan
Gauri Gaur
Deepak Ram
Harish Tandi
Ira S.
Priyanka
Kunal Sahay
Swati Singh
Anurag Minus Verma
Bimbisar
Charul Verma
Nithiya
Stephanie Sharon
Ashay Meshram
Geetika Singh
Ambika
Upasana Ranga
Balwinder singh
Bhargav Oza
Purnima
Jo Tyabji
Prashant Bhaware
Kajori Sen
Saumya Dadoo
kimaya
Aditi Thakur
Diyasha Basak
Abkit Chaturvedi
Tekumal Santhosh
Pratikshit Singh
Vishnu Bagdawala
Janardan Prasad
Swati Ujjainwal
Manish
Indrapramit Das
Ankit
Rishikesh Nagdawane
Jenny Rowena
Harshad dolas
Rashida Husaini
Aardra A.H.
R Sandeep
Ashok Athawale
Aziz
Subodh
Roshni Kalyanakumar
Ananya boya
Malaika Mathew Chawla
Mayur
Obaid Hossain
Aslah Kayyalakkath
Ajinkya ghule
Siva K
Yogesh
Jay
Ananya kothari
Siddharth Kumar
Kirti
Anushka Maheshwary
Nainika Dinesh
Raghu Ram Raj
Rahul Gajbhiye
Umara Zainab
Sharad Kanekar
Zeena Oberoi
Naveen
Prakash Tambe
Ram
Mohanrao
Ritwik Arora
Subhash mohbey
Ravi
Padmaja Pati
Maaz Sayyed
Saloni Kapadia
Aditi S
Ankit Jalan

SIGN UP FOR COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER


 

Support Countercurrents

Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B.
Become a Patron at Patreon

Join Our Newsletter

GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX

Join our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Get CounterCurrents updates on our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Related Posts

Israel’s War on Journalism

How many foreign reporters are in Gaza? None. The Palestinian reporters who fill the void often pay with their lives. There are some 4,000 foreign reporters accredited in Israel to cover the…

Join Our Newsletter


Annual Subscription

Join Countercurrents Annual Fund Raising Campaign and help us

Latest News