Assam reporter arrested again, “He is not even a journalist in our understanding of journalist says Assam CM
The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate granted Mr Mozumdar bail after police failed to produce any evidence corroborating the charges on Wednesday evening, but he remained in the Guwahati Central Jail throughout on Thursday
Guwahati: A day after the court of chief judicial magistrate granted him bail, Assam journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumdar was re-arrested in a separate case late Thursday night.
Police said that journalist was arrested in a case lodged by the managing director of the Assam Co-operative Apex Bank (ACAB), whom he had questioned regarding alleged irregularities on Tuesday. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is the director of the bank and BJP MLA Biswajit Phukan is its chairman.
Mr Mozumdar, a reporter with the Assam-based digital media portal The CrossCurrent, was first detained in the Pan Bazar police station on Tuesday after he went to cover a protest against the ACAB. He was arrested late Tuesday night based on a complaint filed by a security guard at the bank, who alleged criminal intimidation and violation of the SC/ST Act.
The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate granted Mr Mozumdar bail after police failed to produce any evidence corroborating the charges on Wednesday evening, but he remained in the Guwahati Central Jail throughout on Thursday. Around 8 pm, he was taken from the jail to the Pan Bazar police station where he was arrested again late in the night.
Before Mr Mozumdar was arrested in the second case, Assam chief minister told reporters that “two-three cases” had been registered against him and he would be arrested in all.
Mr Sarma also questioned whether Mr Mozumdar can be called a journalist, while pointing out that the Assam government does not officially recognise people working in online news portals as journalists.
He said, “Legacy media is recognised as journalists by the Assam government. But YouTube channels, portals – the recognition of these is just something that is being discussed. A decision has not been taken on this… We don’t register them, we don’t give them advertisements, we don’t give them ID cards. So this person does not come under the Assam government’s understanding of journalist.”
Asserting that Mr Mozumdar owns a dumper business he said that he should be seen as a businessman. Claiming that Mr Mozumdar was not arrested on journalism-related charges, Mr Sarma said, “He went to a bank, he is not even a journalist… He might have gone for personal work, no one can say… If a journalist goes and fights with someone, will he not be arrested?… We will not arrest you for any write-up. If you write something against me, you will not be arrested for that… The freedom that journalists have is for writing, but what they go and speak about in an office; that is a different issue.”
Mr Sarma in his social media post said that it has come ''to my notice that some media houses have reported the arrest of a journalist by Assam Police. I would like to clarify that Assam Police has not arrested any journalist in recent times''.
Meanwhile journalists and journalist bodies continued its protest against Mr Mozumdar’s arrest on Friday, calling it an attack on press freedom.
