Bastar: where journalists are jailed for no reason

Journalist Prabhat Singh was ‘kidnapped’ by Chhattisgarh police and while he got out, too many like him are either in jail or living in fear

WrittenBy:Mahtab Alam
Date:
Article image
  • Share this article on whatsapp

Prabhat Singh, a young and fearless journalist from Bastar in Chhattisgarh, was in Delhi recently to address a press conference organised by the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ). It was his first formal public media interaction after his release from jail in the last week of June. He had to spend 96 days in jail before he was finally granted bail by the Chhattisgarh High Court. His bail pleas at the lower courts in Bastar had been earlier rejected. He was arrested, or as he puts it “kidnapped” by the state police personnel on March 22 of this year, while he was parking his vehicle in Dantewada, outside a newspaper’s office where he had worked previously.

subscription-appeal-image

Support Independent Media

The media must be free and fair, uninfluenced by corporate or state interests. That's why you, the public, need to pay to keep news free.

Contribute

At the press conference, he spoke of his arrest and his torture in the police station. According to him, the conditions in jail were worse than what one can ever imagine and the inmates were forced to live in sub-human conditions.  He said, “I am happy that I am out and I feel I was fortunate that I was not charged under sections of being a Maoist supporter, Arms Act, Chhattisgarh Public Safety Act etc, otherwise I would not have been out of jail so soon.”

He was right in saying so. The day Singh addressed the press conference was also the anniversary of the arrest of Adivasi journalist Somaru Nag. Nag, who worked for Rajasthan Patrika as a stringer and news agent,was one of the first journalists in the series of those arrested  and targeted in the region last year. He was arrested on July 15, 2015, for allegedly supporting Maoists and destroying government property.The good news is that Somaru has been acquitted of all charges by a local court last month,leaving the police red-faced when no evidence was found against Nag.

This was no surprise for people who knew Nag, his work, and had looked into the charge sheet against him. From the very beginning, there was no case against him and it was clear that his arrest was fuelled only by vendetta. Still, for no crime of his, Nag had to spend more than a year in jail.

For those reporting from Bastar, this is how the story unfolds. People like Nag and Singh who are out, are the lucky ones. Journalist Santosh Yadav is still in jail and his trial is dragging for no reason.He was arrested in September last year.He is one of the most connected journalists in the region and has done tremendous work for Hindi dailies like Dainik Navbharat and Dainik Chhattisgarh. Like Nag, there is hardly any case against him and he is going to be acquitted eventually. Until that happens, he must be in the Jail on framed charges.News is also coming in that Yadav had told his father during the last jail visit about a possible threat to his life and that he feared an attack on him. Jail authorities have denied this.

An analysis of the cases filed against journalists and those imprisoned in the region shows that the process has become the punishment in Bastar. If you want to punish anyone, put them in jail despite knowing that the person would eventually be acquitted.Moreover, there are similar such cases against human rights activists and ordinary adivasis. They are being threatened, arrested, tortured, evicted and punished by other means. Their crime? They did not toe the police and the administrative line. In Bastar today, anyone who does not toe the state line is seen as an enemy of the state and has to be dealt with an iron hand, irrespective of whether such a treatment would violate the basic rule of law and the human rights of the individual as enshrined in our constitution. For people of Bastar, democracy, human rights and justice are a distant dream.

Meanwhile, vigilante forces such as the erstwhile Samajik Ekta Manch and its affiliated groups — like Mahila Ekta Manch and the newly-formedAction Group for National Integrity (AGNI) — are given a free hand. Notably, there is a close connection between the office bearers of these groups and the state police officials. Samajik Ekta Manch was ‘dissolved’ in the wake of a sting operation in which its members admitted to working for the police. Interestingly, the same people are now a part of a different outfit called AGNI. They have been running sustained smear campaigns against journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. In fact, a day after Singh’s press conference in Delhi, a poster was circulated on social media with a group picture of all the journalists who had posed for a group photo with Prabhat soon after the conference. It had this heading: “Delhi mein Maowadi samarthak interview mein mast, Bastar Police Naksal Unmoolan mein vyast.” Loosely translated, it says that that the Maoist supporter is busy giving interviews in Delhi while the Bastar Police is busy eradicating Naxalism/Maoism from the region. Not only this, on the same day, the Jagdalpur (a district of Bastar) Superintendent of Police, RN Das wrote the following status message (in Hindi) on his Facebook page, referring to the press conference: “Delhi mein kuchh chor log bastar se bhagke chand ko chhoona chah rahe hain, wah danda bhi bhool gaye. Photo dekha, jaise naksaliyon ke paltu kutta. Jai ho. Na baans rahega na banegi bansuri.” (“Some people from Bastar have run away to Delhi with the aim of touching the moon [finding luck]. They seem to have forgotten the sticks [of the Police]. Saw the picture, they look like pet dogs of Naxalites. Jai ho. If there is no bamboo, then the flutes as well won’t be made.”)

The state government too is doing nothing to deal with the situation. Several months ago, a committee of Journalists and Civil Servants was appointed by the state to deal with the attacks on journalists and look into their grievances.Nothing has come from that front. During my recent visit to Raipur (the state capital) last month, I met several journalists and activists. I was told that with the ongoing attacks on journalists and human rights defenders, it was becoming increasingly difficult to report from the region. Meanwhile, human rights violations continue to be abetted by the government in the name of countering Naxalism and Maoism and development of the region.

In order to deal with these attacks on journalists and human rights defenders, the Chhattisgarh state chapter of People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL)in consultation with several journalists and lawyers, has drafted an act for the protection of journalists and human rights defenders in the state. This was done against the backdrop of the Chief Minister’s promise that there would be a law for the protection of journalists in the state.

While one can disagree with the clauses and sub-clauses of the draft act, what is indisputable is that journalists working in the conflict zones — especially in Chhattisgarh —need protection from the very people who are supposed to protect and safeguard their freedom and liberty, ie, the state. Hence, the draft should be discussed, debated and legislated with the changes required. One hopes that the state will take this initiative of PUCL forward and see it as an opportunity to fulfilits promise to enact a robust law, which will not only be in the interest of journalists but the overall functioning of freedom and democracy as well.

subscription-appeal-image

Power NL-TNM Election Fund

General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans together to focus on the issues that really matter to the voter. From political funding to battleground states, media coverage to 10 years of Modi, choose a project you would like to support and power our journalism.

Ground reportage is central to public interest journalism. Only readers like you can make it possible. Will you?

Support now

You may also like