Lagatar24 Desk
Tripura, Nov.15: Two woman journalists who had reported on recent communal incidents in Tripura and were detained by Assam police were arrested by Tripura police on Monday.
On Sunday, HW News Network journalists Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha were identified in a FIR filed at Fatikroy Police Station in Tripura in response to a complaint submitted by a VHP member.
“Our reporters Ms Samriddhi Sakunia and Ms Swarna Jha have been arrested by Tripura Police today at around 12:55 AM from shelter home in Assam’s Karimganj after securing their transit remand. They are being taken back to Tripura where they will be produced before Udaipur magistrate court.
“Senior Advocate Pijush Biswas shall be personlly appearing for them on behalf of HW News Network. We are pressing for immediate bail and release of our journalists,” the news organisation tweeted.
According to a senior police official in Agartala on Sunday, journalists wrote on social media that a mosque in Gomati district had been set on fire and that a copy of the Quran had been damaged.
Tripura police believe the footage they posted were doctored.
In a tweet on November 11, Sakunia had written, “#Tripuraviolence Darga Bazaar: On 19th October at around 2:30 am, some unidentified people burnt down the mosque in Darga Bazaar area.
People in the community are furious because they no longer have a place to pray in the neighbourhood.”
According to a press release by Tripura police chief VS Yadav’s office, Sakunia’s posts were false and fostered animosity between communities.
The Editors Guild of India had condemned the journalists’ detention and requested that they be released immediately.
