Arrests – Journalists

The Jharkhand Journalist Association (JJA) observed a black-badge protest on Tuesday and along with other media organisations demanding arrested journalist Basant Sahu’s immediate release, reported The Telegraph. The organization is also set to take the matter to the Press Council and the Human Rights Commission. Basant Sahu, a reporter with a vernacular daily, was allegedly arrested for asking Seraikela-Kharsawan deputy commissioner A. Dodde about the first Covid-19 case in the district, and then circulating the DC’s purported denial on news channels and social media.

Sahu wanted Dodde to confirm whether there was Covid-19 case in Ichagarh, but the DC shut him down, denied the news and asked Sahu to go to bed. However, Sahu recorded the conversation and circulated it on social media thus earning Dodde’s ire. After the incident, Sahu was arrested and sent to Saraikela divisional jail.

In the matter, the journalists observing the protest met with Deputy Inspector General Rajiv Ranjan Singh at Circuit House and handed him a memo demanding that Sahu be released. Founder of the JJA Shahnawaz Khan, who was addressing the members of the media at the Seraikela Circuit House, stated that the current attitude of the Hemant Soren government was a flashback to the emergency period when journalists were put behind bars for reporting the truth, the Avenue Mail reported.