Police Friday detained for questioning a Japanese journalist and a local photo-journalist, who were earlier held by Maoists for several hours in West Bengal's West Midnapore district, Hindustan Times has reported. The journalists, who went into a Maoist-dominated village in the district without informing police, were brought to Midnapore police lines in the district for interrogation. "We are...
Two journalists of the Indian Express were assaulted at Dhanyarukhi village in Burdwan’s Mangalkot on Friday, the newspaper reported. The village — where CPM leader Falguni Mukherjee was killed by miscreants, triggering the trouble at Mangalkot — is reportedly a CPM stronghold. Correspondent Kartyk Venkatraman and photo journalist Subham Dutta were injured and their mobile phones, camera...
The editor and publisher of the Statesman were briefly arrested and then released on bail on Wednesday after being charged with hurting Islamic sentiments in an article. Ravindra Kumar, editor of the Statesman, and publisher Anand Sinha have been charged with "deliberate act with malicious intent to outrage religious feelings." “We arrested Ravindra Kumar, Editor , and Anand Sinha, Publisher...
(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists deplores the intimidation of journalists in the Nandigram area of West Bengal state in India by armed vigilantes belonging to the principal constituent of the state's ruling coalition. According to information received by the IFJ, heavily armed cadres of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have been engaged over the past many days in an...
NANDIGRAM: Journalists were allegedly fired at as violence continued in Nandigram for the third consecutive day on Sunday with more than 25 rounds fired and bombs hurled from a brick kiln at neighbouring Kejuri. Police sources in Nandigram said the shots were fired and the bombs thrown allegedly by CPI-M cadres from a brick kiln from where ten persons with sophisticated firearms were arrested...
Kolkata, Feb 10 (IANS) An angry mob attacked the OB van of Star Ananda, a Bengali news TV channel, and assaulted media persons at Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's rally near Singur Saturday. The group of frenzied men at Baratelia near Singur, where Banerjee was allowed to hold the rally, attacked the OB van of Star Ananda, a channel that is seen as toeing the pro-industrialisation line...
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is angered by the failure of Indian police to ensure journalists’ safety, after three journalists were injured in West Bengal on December 8 when police resorted to a lathi (baton) charge during a protest. The Indian Journalists’ Union (IJU), an IFJ affiliate, reported that the journalists, who were reporting on the protest, were hurt when...
On 20 March 2003, RSF called on police and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to step up their investigation of a bomb attack near the premises of the Nepalese-language newspaper "Sunchari Samachar", in Siliguri (in West Bengal state's Darjeeling district). RSF said it feared local journalists would be tempted to censor themselves when reporting on sensitive subjects since no clues...
On 21 August 2001, an official from the Sikkim police's Criminal Investigation Section arrested Rajesh Bhattarai in Siliguri, West Bengal. Bhattarai is editor of "Aaja Bholi", a Nepali language daily published in Siliguri. According to the daily "Kantipur" (published in Nepal), police arrested Bhattarai on the charge of publishing a news report "which disturbs the communal harmonious relations of...
In a 17 August 2000 letter to the chief minister of West Bengal State, Jyoti Basu, RSF protested assaults on journalists by activists of the Communist Party India-Marxist (CPI-M, the ruling party in this eastern Indian state). The organisation asked the chief minister if his declarations condemning the attacks could be followed by acts and sanctions against the authors of the assaults. RSF also...
