Press council begins probe into complaints in Bihar

Patna, April 1 (IANS) A three-member Press Council Of India (PCI) fact-finding team Sunday began a two-day hearing on charges of the Bihar government pressurising journalists, the team's head said.

The hearing began over a month after PCI chairman Markandey Katju constituted the three-member team.

Senior journalist Rajiv Ranjan Nag, who heads the team, said that a number of journalists and people from different streams of society turned up before the team and recorded their verbal and documentary evidence.

"The hearing will continue on Monday and after collecting the relevant facts, the team will send a corresponding report," he said.

Nag also said in the next round, the team will visit different districts of Bihar.

The other members of the team are Kalyan Baruah and Arun Kumar.

Katju created a controversy when during a visit here February he said that there was no press freedom in Bihar while this was not the case when Lalu Prasad was the chief minister.

"I heard that there is improvement in law and order in Bihar under (Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar but there is no press freedom," Katju said, adding media persons were under pressure not to write anything that goes against the state government.