Harassed

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...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday's attack on Ghulam Mohammad Sofi, a prominent editor in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir State. Two young men entered the offices of Sofi, editor of the popular Urdu-language daily Srinagar Times, at about 6:30 p.m. yesterday and opened fire. Sofi's bodyguard attempted to block the assailant and was shot in the...

Journalist Iftikhar Gilani, the Kashmir Times' correspondent in New Delhi, remains imprisoned after Judge Sangeeta Dhingra Shehgal on 31 July postponed until 8 August consideration of his request to be released on bail. His detention was criticized by the Press Council of India two days before this decision. Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières - RSF) called today on US secretary...

On 11 July 2002, police in the Indian capital of New Delhi took four Nepalese citizens into custody, including three journalists, on charges of assisting Maoist rebels. According to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report, those arrested include journalists working for "Nepali Awaj" ("Voice of the Nepalese") newspaper, which is published in New Delhi. The arrested journalists are Parth Chhetri...

A court in Saharanpur (state of Uttar Pradesh) decided, on 4 July, to imprison Kumar Badal, a reporter with the on-line newspaper Tehelka.com. A hearing is to be held with Badal on 5 July in a poaching case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accused Badal of asking poachers to kill wild animals in a national park. The site's managers have denounced this imprisonment, which, according to...

RSF protested the search carried out at the head office of the website Tehelka.com. "The fact that this search was conducted on the very same day that the website's editor was due to give evidence of capital importance in an inquiry into a corruption scandal shows that the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] and the government are stepping up the pressure that has been exerted on the management...

On 11 June 2002, RSF called for the release of Kashmiri journalist Iftikhar Ali Geelani and suggested his arrest was an attempt to restrict coverage of events in Kashmir. "Charging a Kashmiri journalist under the Official Secrets Act in the present circumstances would seem an effort to intimidate any media which tries to report independently on the conflict in the province," said RSF Secretary...

In a letter sent to the Indian Minister of External Affairs, Jaswant Singh, Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders - RSF) asked for the real reasons for the arrest of Burmese journalist Soe Myint, managing editor of the Mizzima press agency. "We are justified in asking whether the arrest of this journalist, reputed for his reporting on human rights violations in Burma, has a direct...

In a letter to Chief Minister of Karnataka State S.M. Krishna, RSF has asked to be informed of the exact reasons for the detention of a journalist named Sivasubramanian, who has been accused of supporting the bandit Veerappan. RSF fears that the journalist has been mistreated by the police in order to obtain a confession. "If Sivasubramanian's arrest is tied to his professional activities, we ask...

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...