AGARTALA: Tripura police stopped two Delhi-based journalists from leaving the state on Sunday after an FIR was registered against them for instigating communal tensions.
The journalists identified as – Sammriddhi K Sakunia and Swarna Jha, were served notices to record their statements. They had arrived in the state on Thursday to cover the reported communal flare-ups.
They had visited Kakraban of Udaipur in Gomati district upon arrival, followed by bordering minority-dominated localities of West Tripura and Sepahijala districts. Later, they went to Fatikroy under Unokoti district on Saturday where an under-construction mosque in the Pal Bazar area was allegedly vandalised by a Hindu group, sources said.
According to police, Fatikroy police station has registered an FIR against Sammriddhi and Swarna on Saturday night following specific complaints about instigating local Muslims and compelling them to make a statement against Viswa Hindu Parisad (VHP) that Pal Bazar mosque was set on fire-raising ‘Jai Sree Ram’ slogan on Oct 23 last.
Both the journalists then left the district and lodged in a hotel at North Tripura district headquarters Dharmanagar. Police rushed to the hotel at night to serve them notice under Section 153-A for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and under Section 120 (B) of IPC for being a part of hatching a criminal conspiracy.
They did not receive the notice when police reached out to them at night, some reports say. “Instead, they made a phone call to a lawyer in Delhi claiming to talk to Kapil Sibal. They were planning to catch a local train early in the morning to Agartala for their onward journey to Delhi. But the police stopped them in the hotel. After some time, an advocate came, and then they received the notice and we allowed them to travel to Agartala where they will have to deposit their statement on Nov 21,” said a senior police officer.
Allegedly, the story of burning the Quran in a mosque at Kakraban in Gomati district was cooked up by the accused journalists, which led to the violence in Maharashtra for the last two days. Police claimed that the journalists are also part of the team visiting the state for the last two weeks and spreading false information about communal violence.
Referring to police allegation, Swarna Jha claimed in a series of tweets that they spoke to locals about the damage to a mosque and shared a copy of the FIR that mentioned a rally by VHP. In another tweet where she elaborated the claims of locals linked to the right-wing group, which are believed to have triggered the violence in Amravati district of Maharashtra on Saturday. (TOI)
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There seems to be a trend in these reporters no doubt working on a script by their paymasters to openly make anything to do with Hinduism bad in comparison to Muslims. A reporter should prepare an unbiased report and not incite or invite sections of the community to attack others. This episode displays the total ignorance and lack of responsibility on their part (and therefore deserve to be punished) of how to use social media. They go to such places only with a narrative and an agenda and this time it has backfired