Assam police detained both female journalists in the morning hours in the Nilambazar region of Karimganj district.
Agartala: The two imprisoned journalists were reportedly taken into custody by Tripura police on Sunday and returned to the state from Assam.
Assam police nabbed both female journalists in the morning hours in the Nilambazar region of Karimganj district for allegedly publishing and broadcasting fake and fabricated news in order to undermine communal harmony in Tripura.
The duo
Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha are the two journalists.
The journalists were asked to stay in Tripura for interrogation, according to a higher-ranking Tripura police official, but they refused and escaped the police interrogation.
Amount of lawsuits filed against them
According to a police official, both of them have a number of cases filed against them.
Through the source, a team of female police officers from Dharmanagar travelled to Karimganj district and returned to Tripura to question both journalists.
Investigating legal possibilities
As per the official, both journalists accused Tripura police of being overbearing in a series of tweets, and they were looking into legal options.
“Two cases have been filed against the duo in Kumarghat and Kakraban police stations,” source Tripura police.
Aiming to ruin the peace between two religious groups
Kajal Das filed FIR with the Kumarghat police station, alleging that they were both attempting to disrupt the peace between two religious groups.
After a video containing fake and false information was uploaded on social media sites, Kakraban police took up the issue on their own.
Following verification, fraudulent
The duo journalists are also said to have shown a half-burned ‘Quran Sharif’ in their film, which was later proven to be bogus after verification.
Samriddhi had withdrawn her tweets after Tripura police established that the photograph and facts she had uploaded were absolutely false.
Solidarity with journalists
Meanwhile, the Network of Women in Media India (NWMI) has expressed its support for journalists Samriddhi K Sakunia and Swarna Jha, and has urged the Tripura police to dismiss fake cases and stop intimidating the media.
Charged under IPC
It should also be noted that the accused suspects were charged under IPC sections 153A, 153B, 193, 504, 120B, and 204 by the police.
Through multiple media sources, two women journalists in Tripura have been named in a FIR based on a complaint made by a follower of the right-wing party Vishva Hindu Parishad.
Sammriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha, two Delhi-based journalists, claimed that cops arrived to their hotel early this morning and “intimidated” them, claiming that they were covering recent occurrences of violence in the state.
According to Arindam Nath, IG (Law and Order) of Tripura Police, a number of cases have been filed against two female journalists, Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha, for printing and broadcasting false and falsified news with the intent of damaging communal peace.
Inciting religious animosity between certain communities
The journalists were on their way to Silchar when Assam Police apprehended them, according to an official statement from HW News Network.
In a complaint submitted by Kanchan Das, the journalists were accused of “promoting hatred between various groups on religious grounds” under Section 153-A and “becoming a member of criminal conspiracy” under Section 120 (B) of the IPC.
Sakunia wrote on Twitter, “At the Nilambazar police station in Karimganj, Assam, we were held. The official in charge of Nilambazar PS informed us that the SP of Gomti District had issued orders for our incarceration.”
According to the officer, a few videos released on social media by journalists indicated that a prayer hall in Gomati district had been set on fire and that a copy of the Quran had been damaged. According to Indian Express, the videos are suspected of being “doctored.”
“#Tripuraviolence,” Sakunia wrote in a tweet on November 11. Darga Bazaar: On the 19th of October, around 2:30 a.m., some unknown individuals set fire to the mosque in the Darga Bazaar area. People in the community are furious that they no longer have a place to worship in the neighbourhood. There isn’t another masjid in the area.”
The tampered footage
The Editors Guild of India has urged that the two journalists be released immediately.
She also claimed in the video that the prayer hall had been set on fire and that a copy of the Quran had been damaged.
“Many people stated that the Quran was set on fire during the vandalism. In the last 20 days, we haven’t found any such proof. The footage appears to have been doctored, according to the investigation. We want to know if this was done with anyone’s knowledge or not. As a result, the journalists have been detained,” added the cop.
Altered their plans
Sakunia and Jha were also told to “conduct conversations” with police in Agartala before departing via Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport, according to their itinerary. The journalists, however, are said to have modified their plans and travelled through Assam, where they were seized. “Before leaving, they were scheduled to speak with us at Agartala.” Instead, they chose to travel to Silchar without alerting us,” according to the police.
According to NDTV, a police officer said, “We went to visit the journalists who were staying in a hotel in Dharmanagar sub-division of Tripura’s north district today based on FIR.”
We obtained their consent and chatted with them in order to obtain some basic information. We delivered a notice to them. They begged that we give them some time so that they could bring their lawyer with them. Permission was granted. They’ve probably already left.
Influence of social media
Tripura police had requested that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube furnish information on over a hundred accounts from which allegedly fraudulent, provocative messages were posted last week.
As per NDTV, more than a dozen criminal complaints have been filed against 70 persons, including Supreme Court attorneys, activists, and religious campaigners.
