‘Attempt to silence media’, IWPC slams Tripura cops action against journalists

Tripura police on Saturday booked 102 social media account holders under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), criminal conspiracy and forgery charges.

Delhi-based journalists' association Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) criticised the Tripura police on Monday for reportedly booking a journalist, along with others, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to "intimidate and silence" media and demanded that the case be withdrawn immediately.

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union members raise slogans during a protest against the Union government over violence against the minority community in Tripura near Mandi House, in New Delhi.  (File photo)

The Tripura police on Saturday booked 102 social media account holders under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), criminal conspiracy and forgery charges and served notices to the authorities of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to freeze their accounts and inform all particulars of those persons to it, news agency PTI reported.

This came after the state police registered a case against four Supreme Court lawyers under the stringent act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly promoting communal disharmony with their social media posts on the recent violence in the state targeting Muslims.

On Sunday, the Editors Guild of India also condemned the Tripura police's action and said the government cannot use such stringent laws to suppress reporting on communal violence incidents.

The IWPC said it is "shocked and dismayed" by the act of Tripura Police of booking Shyam Meera Singh, a journalist, along with others under the UAPA.

"Singh has alleged that he has been booked for tweeting, 'Tripura is burning'. It is a journalist's job to inform, to highlight and present the true picture of events. It is not the journalist's job to please people in power," the journalist body said.

The IWPC slammed the Tripura Police action against Singh, alleging that the slapping of UAPA charge is "a clear attempt" to silence journalists by misusing laws to intimidate them.

"The IWPC demands that all such charges be withdrawn immediately and the media be allowed to do its work freely," the journalist body said.