CPJ is deeply concerned over the prolonged detention of Naresh Kumar Kalita, news editor of the Assamese language newspaper "Agradoot."
On 25 February 1999, Guwahati's High Court rejected Kalita's bail petition for the second time in two weeks. Police arrested the journalist at his home in Guwahati in the early morning hours of 10 February. They searched the premises for about three hours before taking him into custody. Authorities have stated that they recovered weapons and ammunition from Kalita's home, and accuse the journalist of ties to the militant separatist group United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
Journalists in Assam, however, believe that the arrest was related to the recent publication of an article in "Agradoot," which reported that police vehicles were being used to transport illegal timber for the construction of Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s new house. CPJ's sources say that "Agradoot" has a reputation for publishing articles critical of his administration, and that this, too, may have encouraged authorities to order the arrest.
Kalita's relatives claim that, at the time of the police raid, officers forced them to sign blank forms that might later be used by authorities to forge confessions that could serve as incriminating evidence against Kalita.
CPJ is dismayed that Kalita continues to be held without charge. They are further disturbed that when local journalists gathered outside the Guwahati Press Club on 15 February for a march to decry Kalita's arrest, police detained about fifty protesters, citing their failure to obtain a police permit for the demonstration.
