Ashish Pandey 
Guwahati/New Delhi:
A journalist in Assam was granted bail after he was arrested for questioning the managing director of a cooperative bank over alleged financial irregularities, sources said today. The Press Club of India and the Gauhati Press Club strongly criticised the arrest, which was based on a complaint filed by D Saikia, the managing director of the cooperative bank.
News website The Cross Current’s chief reporter Dilwar Hussain Mozumder asked a question to the managing director of the cooperative bank while members of the Assam Jatiya Parishad’s youth wing Jatiya Yuva Shakti (JYS) sat on a protest in front of the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank Ltd over alleged irregularities on Monday.
The same day, the police summoned Mr Mozumder and detained him for nine hours, after which they arrested him around midnight, sources said.
He faces charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for alleged criminal intimidation, and also under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The first information report (FIR) based on the complaint by D Saikias said Mr Mozumder made comments to insult, humiliate and offend a bank security guard, who belongs to the ST community.
The arrest sparked protests by journalists, with the Guahati Press Club in a meeting demanding an end to harassment of journalists. The press club said it will consider approaching the highest authority over the matter.
Mr Mozumder, who also filed a complaint with the police which is yet to be registered, alleged a video recording of the protest was deleted inside the managing director’s chamber.
According to the police, the complainant alleged the journalist “unlawfully entered the first floor of the head office of the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank Ltd… and attempted to steal valuable bank documents. When the bank employees noticed the accused, they raised an alarm, causing the accused to flee the scene. During the incident, the accused disturbed the bank’s operations, threatened the employees, and made caste-based derogatory remarks towards the security guard, who belongs to the ST community.”
The Press Club of India (PCI) in a statement on Wednesday said it stands in solidarity with the Gauhati Press Club in their protest against the journalist’s arrest.
“On March 25 afternoon, Mozumdar was summoned by Assam Police while covering a protest held by a sister organisation of the regional party, Assam Jatiya Parishad, in front of the headquarters of the state government-run bank, Assam Co-Operative Apex Bank at Pan Bazar… When the bank’s managing director Dambaru Saikia arrived at the scene, Mozumder approached him for a news byte, and asked him if he could stop there to reply to his questions. Saikia could be heard on camera asking him to come to his office upstairs instead, which Mozumder did,” the Press Club of India said in the statement.
“However, on coming out of the bank, he received a call on his phone from the Pan Bazar police station, asking him to report. On arrival, he was detained…” the PCI said.
The Assam Women Journalists’ Forum (AWJF) in a statement termed the arrest an attack on press freedom as detaining a journalist for seeking answers on a matter of public interest raises serious questions about democratic principles.
Neetu