News Analysis India

Tag: Sammriddhi K Sakunia

  • Two female journalists arrested over Tripura communal violence granted bail

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Two Delhi-based women journalists arrested in Tripura on various charges, including criminal conspiracy, were granted bail by a local court.

    The journalists — — Sammriddhi K Sakunia and Swarna Jha –were granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court in the Gomati district of Tripura. They were arrested for their reportage on the vandalism at a mosque in the state.

    The court also asked the duo to appear before a local police station on Tuesday.

    The scribes, who work for HW News Network, were covering the recent violence in Tripura. The duo, who came to Tripura to write on the recent communal incidents in Tripura, were detained by Assam police at Karimganj’s Neelam Bazar, close to the Assam-Tripura border on Sunday.

    The Editors Guild of India had denounced police action against the journalists and demanded their immediate release. 

    After a supporter of a right-wing organisation had lodged an FIR against the duo in Tripura on Saturday night, they were booked under IPC sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).

    The complainant, Kanchan Das, alleged in his FIR that they had visited some houses of one community at a village under Fatikroy Assembly constituency and made some inciting comments against another community and “conspiratorial” remarks against the state government. They visited the state to cover the recent violence.

  • Two female journalists arrested over Tripura communal violence reportage granted bail

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Two Delhi-based women journalists, arrested by Tripura police after they were booked on various charges, including criminal conspiracy, in connection with the recent violence in the state, were granted bail by a local court on Monday.

    Sammriddhi K Sakunia and Swarna Jha, both employees of HW News Network, were granted bail by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gomati on a surety of Rs 75,000. The court asked them to report to the Kakraban police station on Tuesday.

    Earlier, two cases were filed against them with Fatikroy and Kakraban police stations. They had arrived in Tripura on November 11 and visited some areas hit by the recent violence.

    Kanchan Das, who is a supporter of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had filed an FIR with the Fatikroy police station alleging that the duo visited some houses of one community under Fatikroy Assembly segment and made some inciting comments against another community and conspiratorial remarks against the state government.

    The two scribes had sought time from the police for appearance in this case and accordingly, a notice was served on them for an appearance on November 21.

    The Kakraban police station case, filed suo moto, pertains to social media posts. They had left Tripura on Saturday morning but were detained in Assam’s Karimganj by the Assam police as sought by the Tripura police and brought to Tripura on transit remand for production before the court.

    In a statement, the Tripura police had said on Sunday that the duo’s “complicity has been transpired in connection with the Kakraban police station case regarding the creation of hatred between communities by fabricating, concealing of record etc in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy as revealed from the tweeter post posted by Sammriddhi Sakunia.”

    “…She posted a video of her visit to the half-burned prayer hall damaged by mischievous fire in the house of one Rahamat Ali of Hurijala…to claim that one holy Quran was burned in the incident occurred in the night of 19/10/2021…This is contrary to the findings so far revealed in course of investigation as the presence of no such damaged books/documents was brought to the notice of investigating officer and fire service staff who extinguished the fire,” the statement reads.

    Accusing the duo of making an escape towards Assam, the Tripura police said they were earlier found involved in “spreading communal hatred at Paul Bazaar under Fatikroy police station under North Tripura (district).”

  • Tripura violence: Two Delhi-based women journalists detained by Assam police

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Delhi-based women journalists Sammriddhi K Sakunia and Swarna Jha, booked in Tripura on various charges, including criminal conspiracy, were detained by the police in Assam’s Karimganj district on Sunday hours after they had checked out a hotel in Tripura’s Dharmanagar.

    “We have been detained at the Nilambazar police station, Karimganj, Assam. We were informed by the officer in-charge of Nilambazar PS that SP of Gomti District (in Tripura) gave the orders for our detention,” Sakunia tweeted.

    I will be putting out a statement soon iterating all the intimidation I had to face while covering the #Tripura story soon. Meanwhile, we are seeking legal remedy.Ps. We aren’t allowed to move outside from our hotel.
    — Samriddhi K Sakunia (@Samriddhi0809) November 14, 2021
    The duo work for the media house HW News Network. In a statement, it said, “Assam Police says that our journalists will be taken back to Tripura for further questioning despite police allowing them to leave the hotel and giving 7 days notice to record a statement. This is sheer harassment and targeting of the press on the part of Tripura Police and Tripura Govt to suppress us from reporting the facts of the case.”

    After a supporter of a right wing organisation had lodged an FIR against the duo in Tripura on Saturday night, they were booked under IPC sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).

    We have been detained at the Nilambazar police station, Karimganj, Assam. We were informed by the officer in-charge of Nilambazar PS that SP of Gomti District gave the orders for our detention.Official statement by @hwnewsnetwork . @Jha_Swarnaa pic.twitter.com/l3JPKUq7kw
    — Samriddhi K Sakunia (@Samriddhi0809) November 14, 2021
    The complainant, Kanchan Das, alleged in his FIR they had visited some houses of one community at a village under Fatikroy Assembly constituency and made some inciting comments against another community and “conspiratorial” remarks against the state government. They visited the state to cover the recent violence.

    Earlier in the day, Sakunia had tweeted she would issue a statement soon “iterating all the intimidation I had to face while covering the #Tripura story.” She alleged they were not being allowed to move outside their hotel.

    The Tripura police rubbished the charges. “We had served a notice on them seeking their appearance before the Fatikroy police station but they asked for time stating they would need to talk to their lawyer. So, we asked them to depose on November 21,” a senior police officer said.

    “We had politely dealt with them and this can be verified with the help of CCTV cameras installed at the hotel,” the police officer said, adding the duo checked out the hotel at around 8 am.

  • Tripura violence: FIR filed against two women journalists for making ‘inciting comments’

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: A supporter of a right wing organisation lodged an FIR with the police in Tripura against two women journalists, who are said to be Delhi-based.

    The scribes – Sammriddhi K Sakunia and Swarna Jha – were booked under IPC sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).

    I will be putting out a statement soon iterating all the intimidation I had to face while covering the #Tripura story soon. Meanwhile, we are seeking legal remedy.Ps. We aren’t allowed to move outside from our hotel.
    — Samriddhi K Sakunia (@Samriddhi0809) November 14, 2021
    The complainant, Kanchan Das, alleged in his FIR that the duo visited some houses of one community at a village under Fatikroy Assembly constituency and made some inciting comments against another community. He also alleged that they made some “conspiratorial” remarks against the state government.

    The two scribes were in the state to cover the recent violence. “FIR in Tripura. @Jha_Swarnaa and I, the correspondent at @hwnewsnetwork have been booked under 3 sections of IPC at the Fatikroy police station, Tripura. VHP filed complaint against me and @Jha_Swarnaa. FIR has been filed under the section: 120(B), 153(A)/ 504,” Sakunia wrote on Sunday morning in one of her series of tweets.

    She said she would issue a statement soon “iterating all the intimidation I had to face while covering the #Tripura story”. She alleged the two of them were not being allowed to move outside their hotel. The police rubbished the charges.

    “We had served a notice on them seeking their appearance before the Fatikroy police station but they asked for time stating they would need to talk to their lawyer. So, we asked them to depose on November 21,” a senior police officer said.

    He refuted the charge of intimidation, stating the CCTV cameras at the hotel in Dharmanagar could be checked. “We politely dealt with them and this can be verified with the help of the CCTV cameras installed at the hotel,” the police officer said, adding the duo checked out the hotel at around 8 am.