Amar Sangno

AMRITSAR, Oct 28: Taking note of MeToo movement, the Indian Journalists Union expressed solidarity for their courageous women to blow the lid of sexual harassment at the hands  of editor bosses and at the work places.
The IJU in its  9th Plenary that concluded today at Amritsar not only condemns the cases of the sexual harassment that are coming out, but also condemned former external minister MJ Akbar for filing criminal defamation case against Priya Ramani to intimidate her and others who have accused him of sexually harassing them when he was then editor in various dailies.
The IJU affirmed that there has to be zero tolerance against sexual harassment and demanded from all media organisations that they must have Internal complaint Committee (ICC) in place without any further delay at the same time they must ensure that composition of this committee is genuine and provide relief to the complainants and act against the accused.
India's largest journalists organisation also demanded from the government specially the women and Child Ministry as well as Group of Minister(GoM), to ensure that the management set up the ICC in line with the Supreme Court directives. It further stated that  IJU will not view this as interference in press freedom but will ensure that the apex court directives are followed. The union also called upon state leaders to set up gender cell in its union as well as apprised its members of the guidelines, which spell out what amounts to sexual harassment.

The Plenary hopes that the MeToo movement would ensure safer environment for women journalists in future and that zero tolerance against sexual harassment is advocated across organizations.
The IJU further resolved and demanded the Telanaga state government to provide immediate compensation to journalists who died due to work pressure. It is said more than 220 journalists have died alone in Telangana state in the span of four years due to excessive work pressure from the management. The IJU demanded the Telangana government to implement Majithia Wage Board and provide health insurance to working journalists in the state.
The baton of Indian Journalists Union (IJU) leadership has passed on to Amar Devulapalli as he has taken charge of  new President of IJU and Sabina Inderjit as General Secretary.  Amar Devulapalli and Sabina Inderjit were unanimously elected as President and General Secretary respectively.  Three vice presidents namely Geethartha Pathak of Assam, Ambati Anjaneyulu of Andhra Pradesh and Balwinder Singh Jammu of Punjab respectively.  Prem  Nath Bhargav of Delhi retained treasurer.  The IJU elected  five secretaries and thirteen National Executive Committee members including Taya Bagang of Arunachal Pradesh.  APUWJ member Taya Bagang is the first Arunachalee and youngest NEC member of IJU. Sushmita Goswami of Assam has been appointed NEC gender council member.
 Passing the leadership to his successor, out going President SN Sinha hoped that that under leadership of Amar Devullapali and Sabina Inderjit the IJU  would touch new heights and emerge stronger and larger organisation .

---

Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List