After Chopra’s letter, the Opposition has united in charging AAP with attacking press freedom. However the AAP authorities has defended the raids in an official communication, alleging the Punjab Kesari Group was violating a number of meals, excise and air pollution legal guidelines within the garb of working the newspaper and the actions in opposition to them had nothing to do with their journalism.

“In Punjab, legal guidelines apply equally to everybody. Editorial independence can be protected, however violations that endanger public well being, staff or the setting is not going to be missed,” the Punjab authorities assertion mentioned rejecting allegations of a “focused witch-hunt”.

This isn’t the primary time the AAP authorities has confronted allegations of muzzling the press in Punjab.

In early November, in an early morning operation, a number of automobiles carrying newspapers had been stopped by the police, disrupting the availability of newspapers to a number of locations in Punjab. Whereas the Opposition had alleged that this was completed to smother the information of Kejriwal being allotted an official home in Chandigarh, the police had claimed that automobiles carrying newspapers had been checked after an intelligence enter that they could be ferrying weapons and medicines.

Then once more in early January, the AAP authorities had come beneath extreme assault from the Opposition after an FIR on fees of spreading misinformation was registered at Ludhiana’s cybercrime police station in opposition to RTI activist Manik Goyal, journalists and social media influencers. The case was registered on the idea of a tweet by which Goyal had demanded to know the usage of a state chopper within the absence of the chief minister who was on an official tour of Japan, alleging that AAP’s Delhi group had used it.

On Monday the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Courtroom stayed additional investigation on a quashing petition moved by Goyal. Goyal claimed that his software beneath the Proper to Info Act to hunt details about the main points of the usage of the chopper had been denied by the federal government.

‘Focused witch-hunt’

The Punjab Kesari group brings out the Punjab Kesari, Jagbani and Hind Samachar newspapers and has been working since 1949. The illustration to the Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria can also be signed by relations Avinash Chopra and Amit Chopra, moreover Vijay Chopra.

“The occasions start with the information story printed on 31 October 2025 which was a really balanced and truthful report relating to allegations by the Opposition pertaining to the nationwide convener of the ruling occasion in Punjab. Thereafter, from 2 November 2025, all ads to Punjab Kesari group which printed the widest circulated Hindi and Punjabi dailies in Punjab have been stopped by the federal government of Punjab,” the letter mentioned.

“Regardless of this financial coercion on the press, we stood steadfast and proceed (sic) our impartial and free reporting. Nonetheless, prior to now few days a relentless marketing campaign has been launched in opposition to Punjab Kesari and its promoters,” the letter added.

The letter has listed a number of raids carried out prior to now few days by the meals division, GST division, excise division, manufacturing unit division and air pollution management board at resorts run by the Chopra Group. The letter and so they had been issued a present trigger discover by the excise division for cancellation of their liquor licence on 13 January, and the licences had been cancelled the subsequent day. The letter provides that electrical energy to their resort in Jalandhar was lower on 14 January, and the subsequent day the air pollution management board raided their printing presses at Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

“Because of the actions it’s feared that as on 15.1.2026, the operation of the press at numerous presses at Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Bathinda can be obstructed or stopped altogether,” said the letter including that there was a heavy deployment of police exterior these presses.

“As you might be conscious, late Lala Jagat Narain based the Hind Samachar in 1949 and Punjab Kesari began publication in 1965. Our dedication to the liberty of the press is well-known, as each our revered Lala Jagat Narain and late Shri Romesh Chandra Chopra and 60 different individuals of employees, brokers, hawkers, reporters misplaced their lives and a number of other received injured as a consequence of fearless reporting in the course of the days of insurgence/terrorism in Punjab. Regardless of this, the newspaper continued to report fearlessly with out succumbing to any stress or affect and shall proceed to take action,” wrote Chopra.

“A focused witch-hunt of this nature—the place numerous departments with the predetermined intent, are disrupting our operations—clearly displays an intent to intermediate… An try and intervene with freedom of the press would significantly undermine democracy in Punjab particularly with the state going to elections quickly,” mentioned Chopra.

‘Regulation breakers’

Reacting to Chopra’s letter, the federal government rejected allegations of “focused assault”, stating that the declare is “an try and deflect consideration from severe, recorded violations of legislation uncovered by a number of statutory authorities performing strictly inside their authorized mandate”.

In an announcement issued Friday, the federal government mentioned, “The place to begin of this whole difficulty is just not journalism, ads or editorial opinion. The place to begin is difficult proof positioned on the official file.”

The Punjab authorities clarified that the excise motion on the resort in Jalandhar resulted within the seizure of over 800 bottles of liquor saved at unapproved places, discovery of liquor bottles with out obligatory excise holograms and QR codes, and documentary proof that expired draught beer was offered to clients for days after it had change into unfit for human consumption.

“The excise authority explicitly recorded that ignorance can’t be accepted as a defence and that possession and sale of such bottles constitutes a severe violation,” added the observe.

The federal government underlined that the suspension of liquor licences was ordered strictly after due course of, and that portraying such motion as vendetta would quantity to suggesting that excise legal guidelines mustn’t apply uniformly.

The federal government clarified that the motion on the resort was not confined to excise violations alone. Inspections performed by the Punjab Air pollution Management Board recorded grave environmental and public well being breaches. “All through the resort’s operations, chemical substances utilized in laundry actions had been discharged instantly into the bottom and into the sewer with none therapy, contaminating groundwater and polluting public sewerage system. The resort, categorised as a large-scale pink class unit, continued operations with out legitimate consent to function beneath the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981, after each obligatory permissions expired on March 31, 2025,” added the observe.

The federal government mentioned these usually are not technical or procedural lapses, however violations that instantly endanger public well being, groundwater and the setting, and no accountable administration can ignore such findings.

“Inspections by the Labour and Factories division throughout a number of printing models linked to the identical group revealed severe and repeated violations of labour legal guidelines, security norms and statutory record-keeping necessities. At Punjab Kesari Printing Press, Unit-II, Jalandhar, officers documented 18 violations beneath the Occupational Security, Well being and Working Situations Code, 2020, together with blocked fireplace exits, expired fireplace extinguishers, unsafe electrical wiring, absence of protecting gear, empty first-aid packing containers, poor hygiene and lighting, and failure to supply staff’ well being examination data,” said the federal government.

“Equally, an inspection at Jagat Vijay Printers, Focal Level, Ludhiana, recorded widespread non-compliance, together with non-production of gratuity and wage data, absence of muster rolls, failure to take care of labour welfare fund data, insufficient fire-fighting preparations, lacking security guards on equipment, unsafe workspaces and blocked emergency exits,” added the federal government observe.

The Punjab authorities mentioned these inspection stories collectively reveal a sample of regulatory neglect throughout excise, environmental and labour domains. “When a number of statutory authorities file violations in writing, with dates, sections and signatures, enforcement is just not discretionary. It’s a authorized obligation,” the federal government mentioned.

Responding to claims of harassment, the federal government mentioned that enforcement of labour, security and environmental legal guidelines can’t be suspended beneath the pretext of press freedom.

The Punjab authorities additionally rejected the declare of a “predetermined witch-hunt”. It mentioned: “Simultaneous motion by completely different departments solely displays how lengthy violations had remained unaddressed earlier. Lawful enforcement, even when delayed, doesn’t change into motivated just because it’s lastly undertaken.”

On the allegation relating to authorities ads, the Punjab authorities clarified that public promoting is just not an entitlement and can’t be used as insulation in opposition to regulatory scrutiny.

(Edited by Viny Mishra)

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