Police in India book journalists after posts on alleged Muslim lynching | Media News [Video]

Media watchdogs in India have accused the police in Uttar Pradesh state of “grave overreach” for filing cases against journalists after they wrote about the alleged lynching of a Muslim man last week in social media posts.

Police in the northern state’s Shamli district charged two journalists – Wasim Akram Tyagi and his cousin Zakir Ali Tyagi – for commenting on the killing of Firoz Qureshi in the district’s Jalalabad town.

The journalists were charged with causing “hatred and anger” in society. Three other Muslims who shared their social media posts were also named in the first information report (FIR) filed by the police. None of them have been arrested so far.

Wasim, a reporter with Hind News newspaper in Dehli, told Al Jazeera on Thursday he was “shocked” when he heard that charges had been filed against him over the alleged lynching.

“Now, as journalists, if we can’t call …