Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday ordered the I&B Ministry to cancel its contentious guidelines on fake news after widespread criticism and outcry by journalists and the opposition who dubbed these norms an attempt to “muzzle” the free press.

According to the press release last night, accreditation of a journalist (both television and print) can be cancelled/annulled if the new reported by them is found to be “fake”. The fake news shall be referred to the Press Council of India (PCI) if the news was published in print media and to the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) if it pertains to electronic media. A limitation period of 15 days has been fixed for these agencies to dispose of each complaint. During this period of 15 days, accreditation stands suspended. If the guideline is violated by publishing the fake news then, the accreditation shall be suspended for a period of 6 months in the first violation and for one year in the case of second violation and in the event of third violation it would be cancelled permanently.

n a strongly-worded statement, the Editors Guild said, “By notifying that the I&B Ministry will initiate such proceedings, the government was arrogating for itself the role of policing the media. It would have opened the door for frivolous complaints to harass journalists and organisations to fall in line.”

It also said that the Guild acknowledges the intervention of the prime minister but remains “deeply disturbed” that faith continues to be reposed on the Press Council of India (PCI) to deliver justice on such issues.

“The recent reconstitution of the PCI has been done in a manner that gives rise to doubts over the independence of the institution and its ability to play neutral umpire.

The Guild’s nominees to the Council were disallowed on technical grounds. Also, the recent reconstitution of the Central Press Accreditation Committee has raised questions over the non-transparent processes being followed by the I&B Ministry as the Guild’s application was ignored,” the statement said.

It further said, “The Guild also points out that ‘fake news’ is a process that cannot be left to governments to initiate action when, on many occasions, the governments and the parties in power—both at the Centre and states—are charged with propagating fake news themselves.”

This amendment was issued at 8:55 pm on Monday. It is said that PMO was unaware until the directive was made public. This directive of I&B Ministry was condemned as it was ostensibly to penalise any journalist or media organisation publishing fake news.

The retraction of the directive was welcomed by the Press Council of India.