Arrest of 4 Bastar journalists for ’40 grams of cannabis’ under scanner

Five days after four journalists from Bastar were arrested by Andhra Pradesh police at the state border, Chhattisgarh police last week raided the Konta police station for tampering with CCTV footage related to the arrest of the journalists.

It all started when independent journalist Bappi Rai, Aaj Tak stringer Dharmendra Singh, Manish Singh of India News, and Nishu Trivedi of Swatantra travelled to Konta in south Bastar to investigate the alleged smuggling of sand to Andhra Pradesh. While they were questioning people and recording videos of suspicious vehicles, Konta PS in-charge Ajay Sonkar arrived at the scene and a brief but heated debate ensued.

The journalists then stayed overnight at a nearby hotel and left the next morning for the petrol station in the neighbouring village of Chinturu in Andhra Pradesh. At the state border, they were stopped by the Andhra Pradesh police and on August 9, 40 grams of cannabis was found in their car. An FIR was registered under the Non-bailable Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the journalists were sent to jail.

But local journalists called it a “false case” and claimed the drugs were planted by police officers from the two states in collaboration with the sand mafia.

Following their intervention, the Bastar police found that the Konta constable, Sonkar, had attempted to seize the CCTV footage from the journalists’ hotel, which allegedly showed him fiddling with their car. Shortly after his arrest, he also left a suspicious message in a WhatsApp group of journalists and police: “Let netaji to know.”

On August 17, two days after the official’s arrest, journalists from at least four states — Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha — demanded a CBI probe into the case. They also sought withdrawal of the case against the journalists.

‘We are being attacked for doing our job’

The four arrested journalists, each with over a decade of experience reporting in the region, are seen by their colleagues as “respectable” and as people who “go to the remote corners of Chattisgarh where even the police sometimes cannot reach”.

“The world knows the conditions under which we work here in Chhattisgarh,” said Dharmendra Mahapatra, secretary of Bastar Zila Patrakar Sangh, who organised the protest in support of the arrested journalists on August 17. “We are being attacked time and again for doing our work. In this case too, they have been falsely accused, so it is important that we help them.”

At the protest, the journalists tied black bands over their mouths and arms. They also started raising money to help the jailed journalists cover their legal expenses. So far, they have raised over Rs 3.5 lakh.

“Our question to the police remains – who planted the cannabis?” asked Salim Sheikh, a journalist from Sukma. “Why was the CCTV stolen? At whose request? Why didn’t the police investigate the reason for the theft of the footage?”

For journalists in Bastar, ground reporting has always been fraught with risk. “Tomorrow, it could be any one of us who faces such false allegations. We are often caught between the police and the Naxals and become targets if we expose things that the government does not want us to,” Sheikh said.

“If you write against the powerful, they can implicate you in any fake case. The reporters will eventually get bail, but what about how the family suffered?”

Dantewada Press Club president Vinod Singh said News laundry: “Journalists from our region often step in to de-escalate issues between the police and Naxals. But how do we continue to raise our voice when the system is against us?”

Law for journalists in cold storage

The Congress in Chhattisgarh has swung into action and set up an internal team to investigate the matter. In a press conference on August 20, state president Deepak Baij said the incident showed that “democracy was in danger” in the state.

“We condemn the way journalists have been lured into this,” Baij said. “We are preparing a report and will decide how to proceed accordingly. On whose instructions is our sand being transported to Andhra Pradesh?”

However, local journalists pointed to the unfulfilled promises made by Congress during its tenure for the safety of journalists. Over “routine harassment”, the journalists had urged the then government to introduce a law to ensure their safety. The bill was prepared in 2020, under a committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Aftab Alam, after several public meetings and consultations with journalists over a year. It was hailed as “pro-journalist” and “progressive”. But the law passed last year was markedly different from the proposed bill and is yet to be made public.

Local journalists told News laundry that the law “would not benefit media people”.

Mahapatra said: “Despite being one of the few states with a law for journalists, we are not sure how it will benefit us in cases like this. They have held so many meetings with us and accepted so many suggestions. But the main bill was completely missing.”

Neeraj Udke, founder of Kondagaon Press Club, said the presence of a law will not remove the immense pressure on journalists. “The police and the administration will do whatever they want to do. This is what journalists have to go through when they try to expose a scam that has been going on for years. How will we ever make our voices heard?”

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