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Criminalisation of media reporting on the government response to the Covid-19 pandemic in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh : Freedom of press in peril
Bari, Muhammad Ehteshamul Naz, Safia
Bari, Muhammad Ehteshamul
Naz, Safia
Abstract
Press freedom is one of the fundamental pillars of any democratic society proclaiming the rule of law. For a free press keeps the government accountable by critically scrutinising the manner in which the latter exercises its functions. Accordingly, the Constitutions of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have either explicitly or implicitly made the guarantee of press freedom an integral part of their constitutionally entrenched bill of rights. Although the guarantee of freedom of press under these three Constitutions is not absolute, this chapter will stress that any restrictions imposed on this freedom must not be ‘arbitrary, unfair or based on irrational considerations’. Subsequently, this chapter will make it manifestly evident that the governments in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic unduly imperilled press freedom in an effort to shield from scrutiny the inadequacy of the measures that they had taken to shut down the circulation of the coronavirus.
Keywords
press freedom, Covid-19, democracy, government, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
Date
2024
Type
Book chapter
Journal
Book
Human Rights During the COVID-19 Pandemic : The South Asian Experience
Volume
Issue
Page Range
89-99
Article Number
ACU Department
Thomas More Law School
Faculty of Law and Business
Faculty of Law and Business
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled
Notes
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024