Assam journo held on vague grounds after trying to report on bank ‘scam’

Media freedom in Assam is once again under the scanner following the arrest of a journalist who went to report about a protest against alleged corruption in a bank. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma happens to be one of the bank’s directors, while another BJP MLA, Biswajit Phukan, is its chairman.

The Press Club of India (PCI), Guwahati Press Club (GPC), and opposition political parties in Assam have condemned the post-midnight arrest (early on March 26) of digital media journalist Dilawar Hussain Mazumdar.

Ambiguous ground of arrest

While the targeting of journalists is not new under the BJP regime in the state, what is more shocking in this case is the manner in which the journalist was booked — under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, accusing him of hurting the sentiment of a person from a tribal community.

The “ground of arrest” cited by the police, a copy of which has been accessed by The Federal, however, does not mention the name of the person against whom the journalist allegedly made the “insulting” remark and when he uttered it.

It says the complainant’s statement clearly establishes that the accused “verbally abused the complainant using offensive and derogatory remarks, such as ‘Boro jati hoi tumi besi kora’ (being a Boro, you tend to cross the limit)”.

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Detained after seeking MD’s comment

The ambiguity has prompted Mazumdar’s lawyer to term the charge as “fabricated and malicious”.

The information in public domain — until the police came out with the startling revelation — was that Mazumdar was detained after he went to seek the comment of Assam Apex Cooperative Bank’s managing director Dambaru Saikia, who is a non-tribal.

A video clip shared by The CrossCurrent, the media outlet for which Mazumdar works, also shows the journalist approaching the banker for his comment.

Sequence of events

Guwahati-based senior journalist Afrida Hussain gave the sequence of events. A protest was apparently being held against an alleged multi-score scam in the recruitment of the bank in front of its Panbazar office in Guwahati. Mazumdar was there to cover the protest.

“When Saikia arrived at the scene, Mazumdar approached him for a comment. Saikia could be heard on camera asking him to come to his office upstairs, which Mazumdar did. Soon after he came out of the bank, he received a call from the police asking him to report at the Panbazar Police Station. He was detained on arrival,” Hussain said.

“I rushed to the police station after hearing about his detention. It was around 3 pm. We were there till late at night. But there was no word from the police about the charges against Mazumdar,” she added.

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Complaint from guard

The CrossCurrent ran reports stating that Mazumdar was detained on a trespass complaint lodged by the MD. Only after midnight did the police announce that the journalist had been arrested under the law enacted to prevent atrocities against the SC/ST communities.

Police sources claimed the complainant is a security guard of the bank, who is from the Boro community. But they did not divulge under what circumstances the “insult” was hurled. “There are several procedural lapses in the arrest, which deems it illegal,” Mazumdar’s lawyer S Tapadar told The Federal.

“The ground of arrest did not mention the name of the complainant whose tribal identity was allegedly hurt. Moreover, merely insulting an SC/ST person is not automatically a punishable offence unless it is in public overview,” the lawyer said.

The police also did not serve Mazumdar notice under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Tapadar claimed. The section mandates that police issue a notice directing a person, against whom a reasonable complaint of a cognizable offense exists, to appear before it.

Protests by journos

The arrest of Mazumdar, who is also an assistant general secretary of the GPC, has evoked sharp criticism. Journalists of the city also staged protests.

“Hundreds of journalists who gathered at the Press Club expressed concern about the growing intolerance of the state functionary against journalists carrying out their fundamental duties,” read a statement issued by GPC president Sushmita Goswami and General Secretary Sanjoy Ray.

The GPC demanded the immediate release of Mazumdar, and an end to the repeated harassment of on-duty journalists. It resolved to continue its agitation till Mazumdar was released.

The PCI, in a statement, urged the chief minister, who is also the state home minister, to “look into the matter with all sincerity, and ensure that the state police respect the true spirit of the SC/ST Act, while also taking into consideration that there must not be any false charges lodged against a reporter who belongs to a backward, minority community, and was covering a sensitive corruption-related protest as part of his routine job”.

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History of muzzling press freedom

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee condemned the arrest, calling it an attack on the freedom of press and journalists.

This is not the first time the Assam government has been accused of muzzling press freedom. Incidentally, on several occasions, the chief minister has been seen making personal attacks on journalists for asking him uncomfortable questions.

Last year, taking umbrage to an uncomfortable question from a journalist belonging to a minority community, Sarma snubbed, “Will you (Muslim) allow us (Hindus) to survive?”

Mazumdar was produced before a CJM court on Wednesday (March 26) and granted bail, lawyer Tapadar said.