New Delhi:
In yet another case of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Manipur
government rounding up journalists in the state under draconian laws,
two senior journalists Paojel Chaoba and Dhiren Sadokpam have been
detained on Sunday. While Chaoba is the executive editor of The Frontier Manipur, an online news portal, Dhiren is the portal’s editor.
According to a police statement, a case under the Unlawful Atrocities
(Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal
Code has been filed against “the editors of the Facebook page of the
news portal” along with M. Joy Luwang, the author of an article
published in The Frontier Manipur on January 8.
Chaoba and Dhiren’s detention has come close on the heels of the
arrest of another Imphal-based journalist, Kishorechandra Wangkhem,
multiple times under several draconian laws, including the National
Security Act and sedition. A well-known name in the state’s journalistic
circles, Chaoba has a number of investigative stories under his byline
at the Imphal Free Press, including about a Manipur police
officer going on the record for the first time about carrying out fake
encounters on innocent civilians in the insurgency-ridden state. Dhiren
is the former editor-in-chief of Imphal Free Press.
Recently, Frontier Manipur has been reporting in detail on
the sensational drug haul case involving a person said to be close to
chief minister N. Biren Singh. State police officer Thonoujam Brinda had
said in a sworn affidavit in the Manipur high court that she was under
pressure from the chief minister to release the person from custody.
Even though the person,
Lukhosei Zou, was arrested by the state police on finding drugs worth Rs
27 crore from his residence, a special court acquitted him in December.
Following his acquittal, Brinda had returned the police gallantry medal accorded to her by the chief minister for her credible work in fighting the drug menace in Manipur.
The FIR filed by the officer commanding P. Sanjoy Singh on January
17, at the Singjamei police station in Imphal West district against The Frontier Manipur
publishing the article mentions that it spotted the article with the
headline “Revolutionary Journey in a Mess” on January 17, 12:30 pm. Soon
the FIR was filed charging Luwang and the editors of the portal for
“attempting to bring hatred/contempt/disaffection against government;
criminal conspiracy and statements conducting to public mischief with
common intention by being Sympathiser of unlawful organization
punishable under 124A/120B/505B/34 of the IPC and section 39 of the UAPA
Act”.
According to the latest information from Imphal, a police team
arrived at Chaoba’s house at Thambeiband leikai of Imphal on January 17
morning and asked him to accompany them, but he refused. Later, when he
reached the police station on his own, he was detained. Towards the
evening, Dhiren Sadokpam too was summoned for interrogation and detained
thereafter.
Advocate Gunadhar Singh, looking into the case, told The Wire,
“It is not clear yet whether Chaoba has been arrested or still
detained. Dhiren has been summoned for interrogation. Anyway, even if he
is arrested, being a Sunday, he will be produced before a magistrate
only tomorrow, following which we will submit our bail application in
the court.” Around 9 pm, news came that Dhiren too had been detained.
The author of the article has not been detained so far. The police
statement said that the author through the article “openly endorsed
revolutionary ideologies and activities and expressed shock and dismay
at the deteriorating character of the armed revolutionary leaders of
Manipur in the recent decade”.
“He called out to the people of Manipur to become true
revolutionaries….His article clearly expressed sympathy and support to
the ideologies and activities of armed revolutionary groups and
outrightly called the rule of law of the union and state governments As
colonial law thereby attempting to bring hatred, contempt and feeling of
Enmity against the rule of kaw and government which is likely to cause
fear ir alarm in public inducing them to commit an offence against the
state thereby posing serious threats of internal security issues,” the
police continued.
Interestingly, though the same article was published earlier in Imphal Times and Kangla Pao, these news publications have not been named in the FIR. While the article in Kangla Pao was published in Meitelion in October 2020, the same report was published in Imphal Times on January 3.
The Wire tried to contact the Singjamei police station
multiple times for more information on the case, but has failed to get
in touch so far.
Chaoba’s wife A. Sanahanbi Devi has submitted a letter to the
president of the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU),
informing them of his detention and urged it to do the needful. Sources
in the AMWJU have said that its executive members would meet on Monday
to discuss the issue.
On Monday, the Foundation for Media Professionals issued a statement
condemning the journalists’ detention. The statement points out that the
Centre has for years been engaged in talks with insurgent groups, and
leaders of such groups have often subsequently become minister or
prominent politicians. “They were not charged with sedition or
terrorism,” the statement reads. “…It is therefore odd that mere
publication of an OpEd article on some such groups should draw extreme
charges upon editors.”
Also on Monday, the Editor’s Guild of India criticised the Manipur
police, the action indicates “no media organisation is safe from the
irrational use of these laws”. It demanded the immediate release of the
two journalists, adding that the cases pose a threat to free expression
and democracy itself.
Note: This article was updated at 4:44 pm on January 18 to include the statement issued by the Editor’s Guild of India.
