Press freedom is caught in the crossfire between the state and the Maoists in the Bastar region of Chattisgarh. Journalists have either been jailed or hounded for not toeing the line.
The government is under pressure to ‘wipe out the Maoists’. The outcome is heightened human rights violations, including sexual assault on women by security personnel. The crackdown on journalists is to ensure that such news does not get national and international attention and sully the name of the Government. Therefore, not only is freedom of the press suppressed, but those insisting upon it will be either arrested with trumped up charges or forced to leave the region.Malini Subramaniam, Journalist
Forced Exodus or Jail
On 8 February, 2016 at 2:30 am, journalist Malini Subramaniam’s house was gheraod with stones pelted. Subsequently, her news editor messaged her to leave the town immediately as ‘things were not looking good’.
The Samajik Ekta Manch (SEM), a newly-created vigilante group to support the police, shouted slogans of me being a ‘Naxal Samarthak and Naxal dalal’. They incited my neighbours to shout slogans and pelt stones, stating that I was capable of planting bombs in their homes. The police threatened women witnesses with foul language, threatened my landlord to issue an eviction notice, detained my domestic worker, and pressured her to make statements against me. The SEM continues to hold rallies and press meets to have me arrested for the complaints I filed against them.Malini Subramaniam, Journalist
While Subramaniam was forced to leave, Bastar-based reporters have been arrested in separate cases over a period of time.
Prabhat Singh was arrested for an alleged WhatsApp message insulting senior police official SRP Kalluri. Deepak Jaiswal was arrested on a seven-month-old complaint by a school principal. Yadav has been put behind bars on the allegation that he was present when a group of Maoists attacked and killed a Special Task force personnel.
Subramaniam claims that this is all a conspiracy to block the flow of information.
In Bastar it is common (what I have seen in villages) to be planted with evidence of being a Naxalite. With the Chhattisgarh Public Security Act, almost anything can be twisted to book you under this draconian act.Malini Subramaniam, Journalist
‘All Critics, Anti-National’
BBC reporter Alok Putul also left Bastar facing threats.
There is no freedom to investigate. Despite informing the local police, I got no cooperation from them in the conflict zone. Further, in response to my report on the Darbha fake encounter, the IG Bastar, SRP Kalluri, texted me saying Bastar police had the support of the local ‘nationalist’ media and didn’t need to waste time on the biased media from outside.Alok Putul, Journalist, BBC
TS Sudhir, a television journalist who recently travelled to the state, has a similar reading. He explains why the cops in the state are on war footing.
Mission 2016 is important for the cops. They want to achieve `success’, hence the killings and surrenders in the last six months. Also, a Chhattisgarh version of the national versus anti-national debate has begun in Bastar where the outsider, the critic of the police way, has been labelled a ‘naxaliyo ka dost’ or ‘naxalite’ directly and hounded.TS Sudhir, Editor, India Today TV
No News is Not Good News from Naxal Land
Sources say SRP Kalluri, a senior police official in Bastar has created an atmosphere of terror during his tenure as SP, DIG and then IG of Police. A local reporter, on the condition of anonymity, claims:
SRP Kalluri called me to his office and showed me a video where I was talking to Naxals. It is the job of a reporter to talk to all sides and get the story. He threatened me saying he would use it to press charges if I continued to report on fake encounters.
Journalists in the region have formed the Patrakar Suraksha Kanoon Sayunkt Sangharsh Samiti October 2015 to fight for press freedom. Journalists associated with the organisation claim that everything boils down to usurping land from the tribals for mining. They say:
Since the Modi government came to power, all environmental clearances have become easy. With the new mining contracts in place, the spate of fake encounters and fake surrenders has risen. The CRPF troops are being extensively deployed in the mining areas to clear land. Reporting in these circumstances has become very difficult.
Journalists Followed and Phones Tapped
Kamal Shukla, a local journalist from Bastar, was circumspect during his first conversation on the phone. In the next conversation, he revealed that his phone was tapped, like many other reporters in the region.
I was with a group from Amnesty and when we reached our hotel in Jagdalpur, the police was waiting there for me to question me. How did they know where I was staying? Further, when we went to Dantewada, one source told me not to travel in the Amnesty vehicle because there was a threat to my life and just as well, their car was stopped and searched.Kamal Shukla, Editor, Bhoomkal Weekly
Like all the reporters in Bastar, Shukla too says that journalism in the state is toeing the government line or nothing. The number of reporters in the region has more than halved over the last one year. While many fear for their lives, the other reason is that the Naxals have blocked out communication.
The Naxals have minimized meetings with journalists. Naxals say they have intercepted conversations of the security forces saying that journalists found in the jungles should be killed and the Naxals be blamed. So they don’t meet us.Kamal Shukla, Editor, Bhoomkal Weekly
‘Chattisgarh is Central India’s Blocked Artery’
TS Sudhir, who recently travelled in the state, further elaborates on the degree of control the government, and Maoists, have in the state.
The writ of the Raman Singh Sarkar is only along the NH and about 8-10 km either side. After that, the villages are under Maoist sarkaar. India is battling India here. There is no development, it is a part of India that has fallen off the map. Given that Chhattisgarh is in the heart of India geographically, it is like the heart has a blocked artery, where the blood is not being pumped into all parts of the heart. Chhattisgarh has been in ICU for long now.TS Sudhir, Editor, India Today TV
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