Recently, the Police detained two Delhi-based journalists. Their crime? Reporting on communal violence. Cases have been filed against journalists under the draconian UAPA, with charges of terrorism and sedition. Journalism is now a crime in India.
On 11 November, a journalist, Samruddhi Sakunia, shared a video of the mosque, reportedly affected due to violence, on her Twitter feed. It said:
Darga Bazaara: On 19th October at around 2:30 am, some unidentified people burnt down the mosque in Darga Bazaar area. People in the neighbourhood are very upset with the fact that now they don’t have any place to go and pray There’s no other masjid nearby.
Their “misreporting”, alleged a local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (a right-wing Hindu group) member, was aimed at “maligning” the image of the Vishwa Hindu parishad and the BJP-led state Government. Based on their complaint, the police filed an FIR against the journalists. Tripura’s Director General of Police said that the journalists were trying to “promote a sense of hatred between communities,” according to a report by the PTI.
Surprisingly, even as reports of communal violence–particularly news of vandalised mosques and violence against Muslims pour out–the police denied all such reports as “fake news.” There are reports which say that the “Tripura police stood by and let violence happen.” And now, they are “silencing those who dare speak of it.”
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