The Supreme Court stayed all further proceedings on Wednesday in the First Information Reports registered against two women journalists who were arrested while reporting on the recent Tripura communal violence, Live Law reported.
The court has also granted four weeks time to the petitioners for filing the counter-affidavit with liberty to serve the standing counsel for Tripura.
On November 15, two women journalists working for HW News Network– Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha – who reported on the Tripura violence were arrested for allegedly “maligning the image of Tripura government, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.” They were initially detained by the Assam Police on November 14 on their way to Silchar, Assam after the Tripura Police registered multiple cases against them.
In a statement issued by HW News Network, it revealed that the duo had been arrested based on the complaint of a local VHP member, and were charged under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace).
In October, Tripura was witness to severe communal violence that was triggered by events that happened earlier the same month in Bangladesh. During Durgapuja celebrations in mid-October, communal violence had broken out in parts of Bangladesh and several pandals and Hindu temples were vandalised, resulting in the death of at least seven people. Following this, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), decided to organise a rally in Tripura, in protest. During this rally, on October 26, several mosques and shops were vandalised.
According to the FIR, the complainant stated that the journalist duo had visited the Paul Bazar area under the Fatikroy constituency on November 13 and while visiting a few Muslim houses, had delivered an “instigating speech against Hindu(s) and Tripura Govt.” It further stated that on October 24, Sakunia had falsely implied that the VHP and Bajrang Dal were behind the damage of Paul Bazar Masjid.
Sakunia and Jha were later granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Gomti District, Tripura on November 15.
Theos Connect, which operates HW News Network, along with its journalists Sakunia and Jha, and its Associate Editor Arti Ghargi, had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the action of Tripura Police against its journalists.
A request for hearing the matter before December 9 was made by the publication’s advocate when the petition was mentioned before the Chief Justice on December 3. The request was allowed by the latter.
The petition also stated that Ghargi was also issued notice under Section 160 (Police officer’s power to require the attendance of witnesses) of the CrPC by the Tripura Police, and claimed that the Investigating Officer rejected the time she sought in a threatening and intimidating manner.
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While arguing that the FIRs amounted to “targeted harassment of press” and claim of “hate speech” as “bizarre”, the petitioners submitted that the journalists were merely doing reporting of facts on ground based on versions given by the victims of the violence.
Seeking the quashing of the FIR registered under sections 120B, 153A, 504 of IPC qua petitioners and of FIR 82 under sections 153A, 153B, 193, 204, 120B, 504 IPC, the petitioners had also sought transfer of FIRs to the competent court in Delhi citing risk and fear of threat to the life of the petitioners in Tripura.