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Two women journalists detained in India for promoting communal enmity

Police said that the journalists shared videos, which are suspected to have been ‘doctored’, claiming that a prayer hall was burnt in Gomati district and a copy of the Quaran was damaged.

Two women journalists reporting on recent instances of alleged religious vandalism in Tripura were detained by the Assam Police at Nilambazaar in Karimganj district of Assam, close to the Tripura-Assam boundary, on Sunday. The journalists had been earlier booked under sections relating to spreading communal disharmony, committing insult with the intent of provoking breach of peace and criminal conspiracy.

Two women journalists arrested in India for inciting communal violence
Samriddhi K Sakunia reporting from Chamtila mosque, Panisangar area. (Twitter/Samriddhi K Sakunia)

They had checked out of a hotel in Dharmanagar in Tripura after covering incidents related to the communal violence in the State in retaliation to the attacks on Hindus in adjoining Bangladesh in October.

“We have been detained at the Nilambazar police station, Karimganj, Assam. We were informed by the officer-in-charge of Nilambazar PS that SP of Gomati district (in Tripura) gave the orders for our detention,” Samriddhi K. Sakunia, one of the two scribes, tweeted.

The other journalist is Swarna Jha. Both work for HW News Network.

The two were booked after Kanchan Das, a member of a right-wing organisation lodged an FIR at the Fatikroy police station in North Tripura district. The Indian Penal Code Sections slapped against them pertain to criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.

The complaint, accessed by The Hindu, claimed that the duo visited some Muslim houses in a village under Fatikroy Assembly constituency and made provocative comments against Hindus besides making conspiratorial remarks against the State government.

Another complaint was lodged against them at the Kankraban police station in the Gomati district on Sunday for fabricating and concealing records and inciting communal hatred.

A senior police officer said, “Yes, they were detained. A team of Tripura Police officials from Dharmanagar has gone there (Nilambazaar) to bring them.”

The officer also said that a few videos posted by the journalists on social media had claimed that a prayer hall was burnt in Gomati district and a copy of the Quaran was damaged. The videos are suspected to have been “doctored”, he added.

“Assam Police says that our journalists will be taken back to Tripura for further questioning despite police allowing them to leave the hotel and giving seven days’ notice to record a statement. This is sheer harassment and targeting of the press on the part of Tripura Police and Tripura Government to suppress us from reporting the facts of the case,” HW News Network said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Ms. Sakunia said in a tweet that they had to face intimidation and were not allowed to move out of the hotel.

The Tripura police trashed the allegations.

“We served them a notice seeking their appearance before the Fatikroy police station but they sought time stating they would need to talk to their lawyer. So, we asked them to depose on November 21,” a senior police officer said.

“We had dealt with them politely and this can be verified with the help of the CCTV cameras installed at the hotel,” he said, adding the duo had marked themselves as students in the hotel register.

The officer also said that a few videos posted by the journalists on social media had claimed that a prayer hall was burnt in Gomati district and a copy of the Quaran was damaged. The videos are suspected to have been “doctored”, he added.

In a tweet on November 11, Sakunia had written, “#Tripuraviolence Darga Bazaar: On 19th October at around 2:30 am, some unidentified people burnt down the mosque in Darga Bazaar area. People in the neighborhood are very upset with the fact that now they don’t have any place nearby to go and pray There’s no other masjid nearby.”

She also posted the video claiming that the prayer hall was burnt and a copy of the Quaran was damaged.

“Many people claimed the Quran was burnt during the acts of vandalism. We didn’t find any such evidence in the last 20 days. Investigation suggests that the video may have been doctored. We want to be sure if this was done in connivance with anyone or not. Therefore, the journalists have been detained,” the cop said.

He also said that Sakunia and Jha were asked to “hold talks” with the police in Agartala before leaving via Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport as per their travel plan. However, the journalists reportedly changed their plans and travelled via Assam, where they were detained. “They were supposed to talk to us at Agartala before leaving. Instead, they preferred to go towards Silchar without informing us,” the police said.

A statement issued by Tripura’s Assistant Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) late on Sunday night said that a team from the Dharmanagar women’s police station was sent to Assam to fetch the two journalists. A Kankraban police team would also be reaching Dharmanagar for “further legal action” against the detained duo.

 

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