Arrests – Journalists

Santosh Yadav, a freelance journalist based in Bastar district, contributes reports and photos to several local, privately owned dailies including Dainik Navbharat, Patrika, and Dainik Chhattisgarh. He reported on human rights abuses by the police against tribal communities in the region, according to his lawyer, Isha Khandelwal, who spoke to CPJ. Yadav had also helped connect members of his community, whose family members faced arrest, to legal aid groups, according to Khandelwal and news reports.

Police charged Yadav with rioting, criminal conspiracy, and attempted murder under the Indian penal code. He was also charged with “associating with a terrorist organization” and “supporting and aiding terrorist groups” under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, according to the independent news website Scroll. Charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a counterterrorism law, have also been brought against Yadav, according to Khandelwal.

Police said that Yadav had links to Maoists rebels and that he had participated in violence between police and Maoists in the state on August 21, 2015, according to The Hindu. Yadav’s colleagues and his lawyer said the journalist was innocent. Khandelwal said police forced the journalist to sign a blank paper which they said was a confession, The Hindu reported.