(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply disturbed by reports that Naresh Kumar Kalita, news editor of the Assamese-language newspaper “Agradoot,” is now being detained under the National Security Act (NSA), which allows for preventive detention without trial. **Updates IFEX alerts of 25 February and 11 February 1999; for background on the Ajit Bhuyan case see IFEX […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply disturbed by reports that Naresh Kumar
Kalita,
news editor of the Assamese-language newspaper “Agradoot,” is now being
detained under the National Security Act (NSA), which allows for
preventive
detention without trial.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 February and 11 February 1999; for
background on
the Ajit Bhuyan case see IFEX alerts of 3 March 1998 and 23 October
1997**
The Kamrup district magistrate issued the order to book Kalita under the
NSA
on 4 March 1999, according to the Guwahati-based, English-language
newspaper
“The
Sentinel.” NSA provisions allow for the detention of those who have
acted
“in any
manner prejudicial to the security of the State Government.”
Police first arrested Kalita at his home in Guwahati in the early
morning
hours of 10 February. They searched the premises for about three hours
before taking him into custody. Authorities stated that they recovered
weapons and ammunition from Kalita’s home, and accuse the journalist of
ties
to the militant separatist group United Liberation Front of Assam
(ULFA).
On 25 February, CPJ wrote to Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta,
after
Guwahati’s High Court rejected Kalita’s bail petition for the second
time in
two weeks. In that letter, CPJ reported that journalists in Assam
believe
Kalita’s arrest was related to the recent publication of an article in
“Agradoot” which reported that police vehicles were being used to
transport
illegally obtained timber for the construction of the Assamese chief
minister’s new house. Agradoot has a reputation for publishing articles
unflattering to the administration, and this, too, may have encouraged
authorities to order the arrest.
Kalita’s relatives claim that, at the time of the police raid, officers
forced them to sign blank forms that might later be used by authorities
to
forge confessions that could incriminate Kalita.
Prisoners held under the NSA are not permitted a court hearing, but are
granted an audience with an advisory committee that determines the legal
propriety of the detention. Although such committees are supposed to
operate
free from political pressures, CPJ noted that in November 1997, the
central
government dismissed the members of an advisory committee which ordered
the
release of Ajit Bhuyan-then editor of the Assamese-language newspaper
“Asomiya Protidin.” In that case, although the committee had determined
that
there were insufficient grounds for Bhuyan’s detention under the NSA,
Bhuyan
was swiftly rearrested (see IFEX alerts).
CPJ is dismayed that the Indian government routinely uses the NSA and
other
statutes to punish journalists for their work. Journalists are
particularly
vulnerable to such charges in areas like Assam where there are violent
secessionist movements, as their ordinary reporting activities require
that
they maintain links with militant extremist groups.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the Prime Minister:
Kumar
Kalita is released immediately, and that the charges against him are
made
public
activities, ask that they present this before an open court
National
Security Act, and order an inquiry into the state’s handling of Kalita’s
case
Appeals To
His Excellency Atal Behari Vajpayee
Prime Minister of India
Office of the Prime Minister
South Block
New Delhi 110 011, India
Fax: +91 11 301 6857
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
