Ahead of Chhattisgarh Polls, Police Detains 3 Journalists for over 8 hours

The Chhattisgarh Police on Saturday detained three journalists-- Siddharthya Roy, a journalist working with The Diplomat, a local freelance journalist Kamal Shukla, and video journalist Bhushan Choudhari, who had travelled to Narayanpur to cover the run-up to the state Assembly elections scheduled for November 12. The three were detained for eight hours in Bastar region’s Narayanpur district without citing any specific reason. 

 

Narayanpur is part of Bastar, where security forces are locked in a low-intensity conflict with armed Maoist guerrillas opposed to elections. Bastar-based journalist Shukla made a phone call to Tameshwar Sinha, another local reporter, around 4 a.m on Saturday, saying that they had been detained by the police.

 

“I received a phone call around 4 a.m on Saturday by Kamalji. He said that he was travelling with an international journalist (Siddharthaya Roy) and one more journalist and they had gotten detained by the police and Kamalji mentioned that if you do not hear from me by the evening, then spread the word about this in our press circle.” Sinha told Newsclick. 

 

“I then called on his phone in the evening and nobody answered. I called four-five times and nobody responded. By that time, I had called some other journalists and told them what had happened. Then once more, I called Kamalji and this time somebody picked up the phone and said that ‘he cannot talk right now’”. 

 

The journalists had visited villages in Maoist-dominated areas where many residents told them that they were keen to participate in the elections and demanded basic facilities, such as roads, electricity and drinking water. On Friday, the media team’s vehicle broke down and they spent the night at anashram run by the Ramakrishna Mission while their local guide and driver travelled back to Narayanpur town to seek help.

 

The next day, the three were on their way back, hitching rides on cycles and motorcycles when the police stopped them at the Kurushnar checkpost. The police then detained them.

 

“Despite showing the police their identity documents, they were not allowed to leave and instead when the police officials were questioned as to why they were not allowed to go further, the police informed them them that they were waiting for senior officials after which, the guest reporter asked them to take them to the higher officials. They were then taken to the Superintendent of Police’s office and they got out around 8-9 p.m,”Sinha told Newsclick. 

 

The journalists said they were asked to switch off their phones and were not allowed to speak to anyone, their equipment was confiscated and the police copied their camera’s memory card before returning it.

 

Roy took to his Twitter handle and posted a short clip of how they were detained at the police station. He also said that they were initially hopeful that the police would release them once they had established their identities. However, after four hours went by, they got in touch with other reporters. It was then that a deputy sub-inspector of police arrived at the station and checked their documents. They were then taken to the office of Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla, where the documents were checked one again. The police made the journalists sign statements saying they had not been harassed and eventually released them at 9.30 p.m.

 

“We were not physically harmed, but we were made to go through tremendous mental pressure,” Roy said. Inspector General of Bastar Police Vivekanand Sinha told local reporters that the police had brought the journalists to the station as part of their “regular check-ups” ahead of the elections, and claimed that this did not qualify as detention.

 

Shukla claimed that the journalists would not have faced any trouble had they informed the police of their travel plans. He said anyone visiting areas considered to have Maoist presence should keep the police informed. He recalled an instance from last year when Maoists had detained a foreign national in Sukma district. “We will not stop journalists from covering the news, but we want to be informed,” he told reporters. 

 

However, local reporters feel that only because they were travelling with an international reporter, they did not get arrested, claiming that  no local reporter is allowed to cover the Bastar region and those who try, get arrested. 

 

“No reporter is allowed to cover this region. You people can still manage to get something by contacting the higher officials or by getting permission from Delhi. But we (local reporters) get arrested. This deters people to report from this area”  Tameshwar Sinha told Newsclick. 

 

He further alleged that, “this also shows who really doesn’t want people to vote. The Election Commission always shifts the polling booths 10-15 kilometers away from the assigned areas. Who will walk 20-50 km from their houses to vote? On top of that, with no media coverage of such things, there is nothing left to show show but zero per cent voter turnout. It is also a known fact that Adivasis want to take part in the election process” he added. 

 

Roy termed  such demands by the police as unacceptable. “This is not a practice anywhere in the world,” he said. “If this was merely a confusion and concern for our safety, it could have been resolved with a phone call at Kurushnar police station. Where was the need to detain us for eight hours and questioning by different officers? Where was the need for taking our camera and SD cards and copying them and running the recovery process to recover deleted footage to look for possible Maoist footage? Where was the need to detain our driver and translator for two and a half days and assault them?”

 

On Sunday morning, the journalists said that as they prepared to leave their hotel room, the police showed up again to check their identity documents and take photographs. Roy and Shukla said “this is nothing but continued harassment” to ensure we leave the district.