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No arrests in 5 years in 2 UAPA cases in Tripura
Tripura registered two cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 in past five years since 2016 till 2020, a report from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said
Tripura registered two cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 in past five years since 2016 till 2020, a report from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said. Both cases were registered in 2020, but no arrests have been made.
However, on Saturday, Tripura police booked 102 social media account holders under one UAPA case for posting alleged distorted news regarding communal violence in the state and also served notices to social media companies, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to block these 102 profiles on these platforms.
The move came after the state police booked four Delhi-based advocates, under the UAPA and some other charges of the Indian Penal Code, who visited the state as part of an independent fact-finding team. Of the total 102 account holders, 68 are on Twitter followed by 32 Facebook accounts and 2 on YouTube, according to the police.
A senior police official said that a one-to-one correlation with the briefing of these Delhi-based lawyers and the communal propaganda on social media was observed.
“We registered a master case under the UAPA and some other sections of Indian Penal Code in this regard and served notices separately to the lawyers and the 102 social media account holders,” said the official on the condition of anonymity.
Reacting to the move, the Editors Guild of India demanded the Tripura government to conduct a fair investigation into the matter and also reiterated their earlier plea to the Supreme Court to take cognizance of the matter alleging unjustified use of laws against freedom of speech and to issue guidelines on charging media persons under them, to ensure that these laws don’t become an easy tool to suppress the freedom of press.
“The Editors Guild of India is deeply shocked by the Tripura Police’s action of booking 102 people, including journalists, under the coercive Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for reporting and writing on the recent communal violence in the state,” they tweeted.
In a press statement released on Sunday, they said, “The Guild is of the opinion that this is an attempt by the state government to deflect attention away from its own failure to control majoritarian violence, as well as to take action against the perpetrators of this. Governments cannot use stringent laws like UAPA to suppress reporting on such incidents.”
They also cited one of the journalists, Shyam Meera Singh, who alleged to have been booked under UAPA for his three-word tweet ‘Tripura is burning.”
On the issue, Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said, “A section of outsiders attempted to bring a particular religion throughout the country and unite them against the Narendra Modi government. Our government is very much serious about law and we will not allow any communal disturbance here. Peace and communal harmony prevail in the BJP regime.”
CPM veteran leader and former deputy speaker of Assembly termed it as an interference of the government and said, “Controversial posts on social media that can ignite communal tension are not encouraged. The concerned social media platforms can alert them, but how come government asks to block social media accounts.”
It started since the state witnessed the vandalism of a mosque and a few houses and shops at Panisagar sub-division of North District on October 26. Pictures and videos of the burning mosque were circulated on social media that was refuted by the police claiming that no mosque was burnt in the state and those pictures were not from Tripura.
Police also denied the news of vandalism of a mosque at Kakraban in Gomati district saying that the mosque is fine and it was a misrepresentation of facts.
The police earlier said that they had booked 71 persons for allegedly spreading rumours on communal violence incidents in the state on social media.
The High Court also sought a report on the incident that happened at Panisagar by November 10. Later, the National Human Rights Commission also sought an action-taking report from the state regarding the violence following a complaint filed by All India Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Saket Gokhale.
According to the NCRB data, from 2016 to 2020, Manipur registered 1,421 cases under the UAPA - the highest among the northeastern states. Assam was in the second spot with 820 cases followed by 36 cases in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland each, 17 cases in Meghalaya, 2 in Tripura and only one in Mizoram.
