News Analysis India

Tag: Tripura communal violence

  • 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).”

  • Maharashtra: Stone-pelting reported during protests against Tripura violence in three cities

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Incidents of stone-pelting by the mob during protests against recent violence in Tripura were reported in Nashik, Amravati and Nanded districts of Maharashtra on Friday, police said.

    Two policemen were injured in the Nanded city, they said.

    Stone-pelting took place at Malegaon, a communally sensitive town in Nashik district, during a protest march in the afternoon, said a police official.

    In Amravati city, over eight thousand people gathered outside the district collector’s office to submit a memorandum demanding that atrocities against the minority community should be stopped, he said.

    When people were leaving after submitting the memorandum, stone-pelting took place at three places between Chitra Chowk and Cotton Market, the official said.

    In Nanded, stones were pelted at police vans and two police personnel sustained injuries, he said.

    The situation was under control at all these places and FIRs were being registered, he added.

  • Stone pelting in Maharashtra in protest against assault on Tripura minorities

    By Express News Service

    MUMBAI:  Following alleged incidents of violence against minority communities in Tripura, various Muslim organisations held protests in Malegaon, Parbhani, Nanded and Amaravati in Maharashtra. Some places reported burning and damaging of shops. There were no reports of casualties. Police deployment has been increased in all these locations. In Malegaon, protestors burned two tea and pan shops and pelted stone at hospitals. Some of these establishments belong to Hindus and some to Muslims.

    The protestors had on Friday appealed to the people to shut down shops. However, some shops were open. The protestors planned to submit a resolution in protest against the Tripura incident to local government officials. More than 5,000 people joined the protest in Malegaon, which has a history of such conflicts. Former Chief Minister and current Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said the state government should not allow miscreants take law into their own hands by using the Tripura incident.

    “Stone pelting and damaging of shops are causes of concern. The state government should take immediate steps and control the situation,” Fadnavis said. Stone pelting incidents were witnessed also in parts of Nanded that include Shivaji Nagar, Deglur Naka and Barkat Chauk. No major damage was reported. Protestors in Parbhani demanded that President’s Rule should be imposed in Tripura.

    Shops were closed in most places of the district. Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil said that after the reports of stone pelting and other violent incidents in some parts of Maharashtra, the police are instructed to handle the situation strictly and take action against those involved. “I appeal to Hindu and Muslim people not to believe in rumours and maintain peace. We need to maintain social unity and everyone should work in that direction and ensure that no violence should happen at all,” said the minister.

  • Tripura police serves notices to 102 persons under UAPA, sends notices to Twitter, FB and YouTube

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Tripura police on Saturday booked 102 social media account holders under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), criminal conspiracy and forgery charges and served notices to the authorities of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to freeze their accounts and inform all particulars of those persons to it, a senior police official said.

    This comes on the heels of Tripura Police registering a case against four Supreme Court lawyers under the stringent act and various sections of the IPC for allegedly promoting communal disharmony with their social media posts on the recent violence targeting Muslims, a senior official said on Friday.

    Tripura police on Saturday served notices to the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, USA, by the officer-in-charge of West Agartala police station asking its authority to freeze the accounts of the accused immediately for spreading objectionable news.

    “Some persons/organization are publishing/posting distorted and objectionable news items/statements in Twitter regarding the recent clash and alleged attack upon mosques of Muslim communities in the state. In publishing these news items/posts, the persons/organizations have been found using photographs/videos of some other incidents, fabricated statements/commentary for promoting enmity between religious groups/ communities in presence of a criminal conspiracy. The posts have the potential to flare up communal tension in Tripura state between people of different religious communities, which may result into communal riots”” the notice served to the authorities of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube said.

    The cases against the social media account holders were registered at the same West Agartala police station under IPC sections 153A (promoting disharmony or feelings of enemity), 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 469 (forgery), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using as genuine a forged document), 503 (threatening), 504 (intentional insult) and section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), he said.

    Similar notices were sent to Facebook and YouTube authorities as well, police said.

    “All the 102 persons, against whom the notices were served were asked to appear before the police and clarify their position”, the official said.

    The names of the persons who have been charged were not disclosed by police.

    The superintendent of police of West Tripura district Manik Das had said that a group of Supreme Court lawyers visited Tripura on Tuesday last and after their visit, it was noticed that several posts were made in social media expressing their discontent regarding recent communal incidents.

    “Police has registered a case and wants to know if the posts were made by them or those were fake posts,” he said.

    The lawyers were alleged to have claimed that the Muslim community was targeted, including women, and a mosque was vandalised.

    The team had demanded appropriate police action against the attackers, those who spread rumours and officials who remained inactive during attacks that occurred in the aftermath of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh during Durga Puja this year.

    The case against the four SC lawyers was registered at West Agartala police station on November 3 under various sections of IPC including 153 (a) and (b) related to promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race etc, 469, 504, 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), besides section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

    If convicted under the tough UAPA, an offender may face imprisonment up to seven years.

    The lawyers belong to different organisations including Lawyers for Democracy, the National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO) and the PUCL.

    Notices were served to Estesham Hashmi, Supreme Court lawyer, advocate Amit Srivastav, coodinator of Lawyers for Democracy, NCHRO national secretary Ansar Indori and PUCL member Mukesh Kumar.

    In the notice to the lawyers, the police had asked them to delete the social media posts and appear before the investigators by November 10.

    A mosque was vandalised and two shops were set ablaze at Chamtilla during the October 26 Vishva Hindu Parishad rally, which was called to protest against the communal violence in neighbouring Bangladesh.

    Three houses and a few shops, reportedly owned by Muslims, were also ransacked in nearby Rowa Bazar, the police said.

    The state government had on October 29 alleged that a group from outside with vested interests had hatched a conspiracy against the administration to create unrest in Tripura and malign its image by uploading fake photographs of a burning mosque on social media after the October 26 incident.