New Delhi: Police in Assam on Sunday evening detained two Delhi-based journalists Sammriddhi K Sakunia and Swarna Jha, of the HW News Network, in connection with FIRs filed against them in Tripura on a complaint from members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad who were displeased with the journalists' reporting on the recent communal violence in Tripura.
Even though the two FIRs against the journalists have been filed in Tripura, they were allowed to travel into Assam, where they were detained without being supplied with an FIR copy or an arrest warrant, according to a video statement issued by Sakunia, 21, from within the Nilambazar police station in Assam's Karimganj district, where the two reporters were detained and prevented from boarding a flight back home.
The two journalists have been reporting in Tripura about the communal violence that was unleashed during a VHP rally there - a string of attacks, in which several mosques were targetted and destroyed. After having reported on one such attack in Gomati district on Friday and on another such attack in Dharmanagar, they were first visited by police and CRPF personnel in their Tripura hotel.
They were then let go from Tripura after they drew attention to the "intimidation" on social media. Following this, the two were on their way to catch a flight from Assam, when they were detained in Karimganj district, with the SP there, Lucky Chauhan saying, "We got a written request from Tripura police, specifically Kakraban police station in Gomati district in Tripura. They said these two individuals were required in connection with a case in Gomati and that they passed through your jurisdiction, so please detain them since we need them for an investigation. We detained them and the Tripura police team arrived at 5.30 pm. We are now in the process of handing them over to the Tripura police. We haven't arrested anyone."
However, soon after their detention, the Editors' Guild of India tweeted condemning the police action and asking for their immediate release, before which, DIGIPUB, an association of news websites had also condemned the action. The Press Club of India has also expressed anguish over the development.
Later, the Indian Women's Press Corps also issued a statement in solidarity with the two journalists, calling for the police to immediately release them so that they can do their jobs without fear.
HW News Network also issued a statement after the detentions, even as Sakunia said that the Tripura Police were trying to take them from Assam to Tripura without an arrest warrant or a transit remand.
The news portal said, "Section 46 of the CrPC, 1973 states that women cannot be arrested after sunset and before sunrise. The provisions of sub-section (4) of Section 46 of the CrPC, 1973 mandates that, if the Police want to arrest a woman after sunset, they have to seek prior permission of the Magistrate. This was not followed by the Tripura Police. Assam Police says that our journalists will be taken back to Tripura for further questioning despite the police there allowing them to leave the hotel and giving them seven days' notice to record a statement. This is sheer harassment and targetting of the press on the part of Tripura Police and Tripura Govt to suppress us from reporting the facts of the case."
The first FIR against the reporters was registered at Fatikroy police station on the complaint of one Kanchan Das, who claimed they were "falsely connecting VHP and Hindus to the mosque attacks" and were allegedly "maligning Hindus and the Tripura government".
The journalists have been accused of "promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion" under Section 153-A and "being a part of criminal conspiracy" under Section 120 (B) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code).
Following this, Sakunia said that they were visited by the police in their North Tripura hotel. She had then said they were being prevented from leaving the hotel. Hours later, they were let go with the police claiming they were just serving a notice to them.
In the meantime, several politicians have spoken out about the incident, with ex-Congress supremo Rahul Gandhi tweeting, "The BJP system is busy killing journalism. But when has the truth stopped in the face of lies?"
In fact, Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale also came to the aide of the reporters on Twitter, trying to arrange for legal help for them. Moreover, by Sunday evening, Karimganj South MLA, Congress' Siddique Ahmed had reached the Nilambazar police station to help the journalists.