The Editors Guild of India on Wednesday condemned the Jammu and Kashmir Police summoning journalists in the past week, saying that the action is “tantamount to coercion and intimidation” of the media.

In a statement, the guild said that while the police were yet to clarify the reasons for the summons, there can be “no space for such arbitrary actions in a democracy, of which the media is a key pillar”.

At least four reporters working for major national publications had been summoned by the police in the Union Territory, Scroll reported on Tuesday. One of them was a senior journalist with The Indian Express, Bashaarat Masood, a person familiar with the development told Scroll.

Masood had recently reported on a controversial police drive to collect information on mosques and mosque officials in Kashmir.

He was asked to sign a bond, stating that he would not do anything to disturb peace in the Union Territory, the person said. Masood did not sign the bond, a spokesperson of The Indian Express had told Scroll.

The police action was not based on a formal first information report, but was being carried out under Section 126 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, the person said.

The provision allows an executive magistrate to pre-emptively seek bonds from people “likely to commit a breach of peace”. Government officials can invoke this section merely on the basis of information they have received about individuals.

In its statement on Wednesday, the Editors Guild said that the “continued repression” of legitimate journalistic activities by the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir was a matter of “grave concern”.

It added: “Arbitrary summons and police questioning of journalists, and bids to obtain affidavits under duress, are tantamount to coercion and intimidation of the media in pursuit of its legitimate duties.”

The guild added that the summoning of the journalists in the Union Territory was the “latest instance of increasingly threatening, intimidatory and coercive actions taken against professional journalists” by the police.

“Innumerable instances of journalists being summoned and questioned by the police have been reported in the past,” it added.

The guild urged the police and the other authorities to desist from such actions, which it said restricted free speech and prevented the media from carrying out its core functions.

The statement also urged the authorities to act in a transparent manner and follow legal due process while dealing with the media.

Statement on Police Action Against Kashmir Journalists pic.twitter.com/qPPH26C4Ls

— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) January 21, 2026

Apart from Masood, three other journalists also got similar summons. One of them was out of Srinagar when he got a call from a police officer, asking him to come in. None of the other journalists have, as of yet, reported to the police station, Scroll reported on Tuesday.

The four journalists who were summoned had reported on the political reaction to the police’s drive to collect information on mosques, which had triggered a row in the past week in the Union Territory.

Police officials were reportedly distributing copies of a four-page form to mosques in the Muslim-majority region. The form sought extensive information pertaining to the family background and financial details of those involved in the upkeep of the places of worship.

The exercise had drawn criticism from Kashmiri politicians across party lines and prominent religious organisations, who argued that this went beyond looking into the legal status of mosques.

Scroll had on Tuesday contacted the senior superintendent of Srinagar Police, asking about the reasons for summoning journalists and asking them to sign the bonds. The official did not respond to our calls and messages. Our reports will be updated if he responds.

***Also read: ***‘Attempt to silence national press’: Four Kashmiri journalists get police summons