2005-2014

According to information made available by RSF on 17 July 1998, on 12 July 1998, Puyam Theiba, a reporter for the local newspaper "Panthungfam", was assaulted and injured by army soldiers in the state of Manipur when they raided his house. They claimed that the journalist was involved in anti-Indian activities. Meanwhile, at Nalbari, in the state of Assam, Arup Kumar Sarma, editor of the magazine...

According to information made available by RSF on 8 July 1998, on 7 July 1998, Mathew Marak, editor of the daily "Achik Mikasal", received a letter containing death threats from rebel groups belonging to the separatist Achik National Volunteer Council. The separatist militants said in their threats that Marak had written several reports which were "not correct." Three months ago, photographer W. T...

(IFJ) "Financial Express" journalist Shivaji Sarkar was among a group of bus passengers returning from a pilgrimage who were beaten by army personnel in the hill region of Uttar Pradesh state on 23 June 1998. The passengers had earlier objected to an army vehicle blocking the road. The vehicle pulled up alongside the bus and 20 to 25 army personnel got out and starting beating the passengers. When...

On 16 June 1998, four journalists, including two photographers, were hospitalised with serious injuries after they were attacked at the additional District Court in Kollam, Kerala state, by activists of the ruling Marxist Communist Party (CPM). Police reportedly stayed away from the court premises until the attack was over. The hospitalised journalists are Tony Dominic of the daily "Malayala...

According to information released by RSF on 18 May 1998, Dhiren Chakravarty and Atanu Bhuyan, editor and executive editor respectively, of the Guwahati-based daily "Ajir Batori", were woken up and arrested at 3:00 a.m. (local time) on Friday 15 May, by Assam state policemen (in the northwestern state of Assam). They are charged with defaming Parliament and its members after the publication, on 21...

In late November 1997, the Advisory Committee, the local administrative body for the National Security Act (NSA), concluded that the grounds for detaining Ajit Bhuyan, former editor of the Assamese-language daily newspaper "Asomiya Protidin" and its sister paper, the Assamese-language weekly "Sadin", were not acceptable and ordered his release. Following this decision, the central government...

According to reports from India received by CPJ, 50 armed men attacked the Madurai office of the Tamil-language daily newspaper "Dinamalar" in the early morning of 1 March 1998. Bearing clubs and knives, the armed men assaulted the office watchman, hurled four molotov cocktails, and destroyed property which included press equipment, windows, electrical fixtures, furniture, and automobiles. This...

Ajit Bhuyan, editor of the widely read Assamese-language newspaper "Asomiya Protidin" ("Assamese Daily") and its sister paper, the Assamese-language weekly "Sadin" ("Seven Days"), has been the target of repeated arrests since August 1997. According to news reports, Bhuyan has been linked by state authorities to the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and with complicity in the...

On 13 August 1997, Indian immigration authorities refused to allow Martin Sugarman, an independent United States (US) photographer and filmmaker, to enter India for the purpose of reporting in the Kashmir Valley. Sugarman arrived in New Delhi on a flight from London, United Kingdom shortly before midnight on 12 August. He had been issued a visa on 16 July by the Indian Consulate in San Francisco...

On 27 July 1997, Habib-ullah Naqash, photojournalist for The Asian Age in Srinagar, was beaten by two policemen when stopped at a highway check point en route to cover the visit of Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral to the region. Similarly, on 8 August, Mukhtar Ahmed, a reporter for the Indian daily "The Telegraph" and a correspondent for Cable News Network (CNN), and photojournalist Arshad Ahmed...