Arrests – Journalists

Jaalam Singh is a crime reporter in Guna with Dainik Khulasa, an online newspaper. On September 7, he wrote a story on a video purportedly showing Mahendra Singh Sisodia, the state minister of panchayat and rural development, with a woman. It went viral in Guna.

Singh’s report did not mention Sisodia by name. It merely said a video had gone viral, and an unnamed politician in the video might be dumped by his party’s higher-ups. Eleven FIRs swiftly followed. On September 13, Singh was arrested. He’s presently in jail in Guna. His family has applied for bail but his wife Suman Kumar told Newslaundry they’re struggling to put together the bail amount.

She said the family is “very distressed”. “The police came to our house after the first FIR was registered,” she said. “Jaalam had gone out of the house for a few days. As long as he was away, FIRs were registered at different police stations against him in Guna and Shivpuri districts. By the time he was arrested, 11 FIRs were filed. He was arrested in Kota where he was staying in a relative’s house.”

Newslaundry accessed eight of the 11 FIRs registered against Singh. Most of them were based on complaints from people associated with the BJP.