Agartala: After the journalists were granted bail on Monday , Tripura’s Information Minister Susanta Chowdhury slammed them over the incident. He alleged the two female journalists were ‘provoking people agaisnt the government’.
‘The two women journalists were provoking the people, instigating the people against the government, trying to unite the Muslim community on behalf of another political party,” said Mr Chowdhury.
Granting bail, the court said, ” the offences alleged are serious in nature but to keep them in detention is “extreme curtailment of personal liberty”. The release order read- “It appears to the court that the detention of the accused persons may not be necessary for the purpose of investigation. For the same reason it is not necessary to detain the accused person in police custody as the same is extreme curtailment of personal liberty.”
Journalists Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha were granted bail yesterday after they were detained in Assam on Sunday charged against instigating communalism in Tripura. A case of “spreading communal disharmony” was lodged following their reports on the vandalism at a mosque in the state.Following their arrest, the Editors Guild of India, denounced the police action against the journalists and demanded an immediate release and “restoration of their freedom to travel”.
According to the police, the complaint stemmed from a tweet by the female journalists who visited a half-burnt prayer hall at a private house where claims of the Islamic holy book being burnt were made. It stated that the information posted by Ms Sakunia were not true and promoted a sense of hatred between communities. Moreover, police officials suspect the vidoes were tailored with a motive to ignite communal disharmony.