International PEN is concerned over the reported harassment and intimidation of journalist and human rights activist Lachit Bordoloi in Assam, India. PEN believes that Bordoloi, chairman of the Organization for the Struggle for Human Rights (MASS), has been targeted primarily for his coverage of police corruption in Nagaon District, Assam. PEN calls upon the authorities in Assam to guarantee his right to freedom of expression and thus his safety, in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is a signatory.
On 1 September 2001, an article by Bordoloi was published in the Assamese daily "Somiya Protidin" highlighting police corruption in Nagaon, provoking a high-level inquiry into the activities of the Nagaon superintendent of police. On 4 September 2001, Bordoloi was reportedly visited by a police officer who threatened him with a defamation suit if he failed to retract the article. He refused.
This marked the beginning of a campaign of intimidation and harassment against Bordoloi, including the attempted fabrication of evidence linking Bordoloi with an active armed group, the United Liberation Force of Assam (ULFA). Alleged ULFA supporters have reportedly been extra-judicially executed or tortured by the security forces. Other MASS activists have been arrested and reportedly tortured by the Nagaon Police Department in an attempt to extract confessions of links between MASS, Bordoloi and the ULFA.
