The arrest of two woman journalists in Tripura for their reportage of communal violence in the state last month had triggered an uproar earlier this week.
Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha, journalists with HW News Network, were granted bail on Monday by the Udaipur Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. They had been taken into custody from Assam. Sakunia and Jha had been booked in separate cases in Gomati and Unakoti districts for allegedly spreading communal hatred in connection with incidents of vandalism in Tripura.
Despite the criticism over the alleged harassment of the journalists, the Tripura government has defended its handling of the situation.
Sushanta Chowdhury, who is Tripura's information minister and spokesperson of the government, alleged the two women had been “instigating the people against the government”, NDTV reported on Tuesday.
He claimed the duo was “trying to unite the Muslim community on behalf of another political party”. He even claimed their work was responsible for the violence in Amravati district in Maharashtra over the weekend when Muslim groups engaged in stone pelting during a protest against the incidents in Tripura.
“If they simply wanted to report from ground… present news, we don't have a problem, but why were they putting up provocative post?... We all saw what happened in Amravati, the minority community was provoked to come out on the street, who did it? These type of journalists did it," Chowdhury was quoted as saying by NDTV.
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According to Hindustan Times, Chowdhury said “They came here as agents of a political party with an intention to affect communal peace and cause a riot-like situation. They came here introducing them as journalists to provoke people with fake footage”.
Chowdhury asked why the two journalists had gone to Assam. “They told the police that they will take a flight to New Delhi from Agartala. But then they escaped to Nilambazar in Assam without any intimation. If they are journalists, why did they need to escape?” He was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
