New Delhi, 14 September 2023: The Indian Journalists Union condemns the arrest of a correspondent of Anandabazar Patrika, Debmalya Bagchi in West Bengal’s Kharagpur on September 6, on charges of ‘assaulting his neighbour, a Dalit woman’. However, journalists in the State suspect that the arrest is linked to his recent articles highlighting hooch traders, including the neighbour, operating from Sanjol residential area.
According to the police, Bagchi’s neighbour filed a complaint that in the evening of August 27, she and her in-laws were outside their home when he allegedly hurled abusive and casteist remarks at them. And when they protested, Bagchi assaulted her. The police booked Bagchi and one Basanti Das under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354B (assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe), 509 (uttering any word or making any gesture intended to insult modesty of a woman), and under provisions of the SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
While the Anandabazar Patrika has chosen to remain silent on the issue, it had carried a series of articles on the illegal hooch business by Bagchi saying local administration was indifferent towards the issue, and that those involved in the trade had gheraoed homes of people who had complained against them. On being approached by journalists about the unfair arrest, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had assured she would look into the case but nothing has been done till now.
In a statement IJU President and former Member of Press Council of India Geetartha Pathak and Secretary General, IFJ Vice President and FAPaJ President Sabina Inderjit said the arrest of Bagchi is an assault on the freedom of the press as it was intended to harass him for his articles on the illegal hooch trade. Instead of going after the culprit traders the police action was shooting the messenger.
The IJU demanded Bagchi’s immediate release and urged the TMC government to refrain from harassing and intimidating the media through such actions, and let it carry out its responsibility of informing the citizens, vital to any democratic society.
