This is not in defence of a colleague. Narain Jasodanand is big enough to defend himself and has a big enough readership to support him in hard times such as these. It is in defence of the principle of justice and human rights, which is being challenged and violated once more. It is in defence of you and me for, when the basic principles of law are not respected in a country that prides itself on being an état de droit, anyone can be victim to abuse and arbitrary behaviour.

Narain is one of those journalists who made it despite wanting to remain discreet. He is recognised as a true investigative journalist without ever claiming to be one. He rose to fame through sheer hard work and a boundless dedication to fighting for justice. And his work was always done behind the scenes. He is singlehandedly responsible for bringing to light Soopramanien Kistnen’s murder well after it had been shelved as a suicide. Without him, Kistnen’s widow would never have been heard, Yogida Sawmynaden’s dealings would not have been exposed and the ‘Avengers’ would not have existed. Narain makes no claim to any of these achievements, never sought an award for his work nor did that affect his humility.

Naturally, when you play on the turf of the powerful, you attract powerful enemies. You then have the impression that they are lurking in the dark waiting for the opportunity to pounce on you when you become an easy prey. It is a threat many of our colleagues live under. You never know when that opportunity might come.

For Narain, this opportunity came under the guise of “domestic violence”, a very ugly term we all concede. Our understanding is that the allegation filed against him by his ex-wife, like the one he filed against her, is that of verbal abuse. We are not excusing any act of violence of any kind but if we had to lock up couples on allegations of having been verbally abusive towards each other, whether they are divorced or still married, we would have to convert a large part of the country into a prison.

In any other circumstances, when a verbal abuse complaint has been filed, the police take a statement, the suspect faces a court of justice, the only authority mandated to decide on their guilt or innocence. In the meantime, the accused goes back home pending a court decision.

Narain had no such luck. He was detained by the police for a whole day and, once the courts were closed, he was kept in detention overnight. Now I have already detailed the conditions of detention in Provisional Charges: The Untold Human Stories. No need to go over that to remind our readers how dreadful those are. The same playbook was used again and Narain had to spend a whole night in an abject cell. All this on a mere allegation and on the pretext that there had been previous convictions – something he vehemently denies. If that is not a violation of his human and constitutional rights, then I don’t know what is.

So I don’t understand the argument of some bloggers that journalists are not above the law. Who ever said we were? We are the first victims of laws when they are selectively applied. What we are asking for is parity and equity in the treatment we receive, not to be treated better than any other citizen. We are asking to be judged for what we have done not for whether doing our job pleases those in power or not. We are calling for our democratic rights not to be violated because of the scandals we have uncovered or the opinions we have expressed and that we have the right to express without fear or favour in a democracy.

This is not a fight for special privileges for journalists. This is not even a fight for the rights of journalists. This is a plea for all citizens in this country to be treated decently pending a court hearing. It is a fight for human rights and justice. It is based on the principle that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”*.

*Martin Luther King