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Tripura violence: Opposition hits out at state govt over UAPA cases
Tripura violence: While the Congress demanded the immediate withdrawal of UAPA cases, the CPM termed the police move as an interference by the government.
Opposition parties in Tripura on Sunday condemned the police action of booking 102 people, including journalists, under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, in connection with the recent violence in the state.
While the Congress demanded the immediate withdrawal of cases, the CPM termed the police move as an interference by the government.
Speaking to news agency PTI, Tripura Pradesh Congress chief Birajit Sinha said “the mosque at Panisagar was attacked by activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and houses of minority communities were vandalised by them... they should be arrested first”.
“I do not think the lawyers, who visited the state, came with any bad intentions and did not spread any communal hatred. The government should immediately withdraw charges against them,” he said.
A mosque, a few houses and shops were reportedly vandalised by VHP activists during their rally on October 26. While four people were arrested in this regard, police later said that no mosque was burnt and photographs showing the same were not from Tripura.
As many as four Delhi-based advocates, who visited the state as part of an independent fact-finding team, were booked under section 13 (any unlawful activity will be punishable with maximum seven years imprisonment along with fine) of UAPAand sections of Indian Penal Code. Besides them, 102 social media account holders were booked under UAPA for allegedly spreading misinformation.
“Controversial posts on social media that can ignite communal tension are not encouraged. The concerned social media platforms can alert them, but how come the government asks to block social media accounts,”CPM leader Pabitra Kar said.
A high-rank police official, on the condition of anonymity, said that “notices have served to social media companies, asking to block 102 social media accounts and provide particulars of the account holders to us”.
The Editors Guild of India also criticised the government move, saying the latter cannot use such stringent laws to suppress reporting on communal violence incidents.
“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,” it said in a statement.
The Guild demanded that the state government conduct a fair probe into the matter and also reiterated their earlier plea to the Supreme Court “to take cognizance of manner in which such laws are unjustifiably used against freedom of speech, and to issue stringent guidelines on charging journalist under them, so that these laws don’t become an easy tool for suppressing press freedom”.
On October 29, the state government had alleged that a group from outside with vested interests had hatched a conspiracy against the administration to create unrest in Tripura and malign its image by uploading fake photographs of a burning mosque on social media after the October 26 incident.
Last week, the Tripura high court had taken cognisance of the violence and sought a detailed report from the state government by November 10. The report, however, is yet to be submitted, according to people aware of the developments.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also sought an action taken report, within four weeks, from the Tripura government on the violence.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Tripura Police had registered two cases under UAPA between 2016 and 2020. Both cases were registered in 2020 but no arrests were made.
