India

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is expressing concern further to death threats received by two Assamese journalists. According to RSF’s information, in its 23 October 1998 issue, the daily “Amar Asom” said that two senior journalists of the newspaper were threatened with death by a former separatist militant after they enquired about his involvement with the police […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting an assault on two journalists in north-east India. According to RSF’s information, on 17 October 1998, Pradeep Behera, a senior journalist with the English-language daily “Arunachal Times”, was assaulted by six unidentified persons armed with lethal weapons who entered his home in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. He is in […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the new press censorship decided by the Manipur government. According to RSF, during the first week of October 1998, the government of the state of Manipur (northern India) ordered the local media not to publish or distribute statements by the separatist guerillas. The government’s directive says that any newspaper which […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, on 18 July 1998, Assamese editor Ajit Kumar Bhuyan was assaulted by armed men. Bhuyan was threatened, his residence ransacked, and his family terrorized by the incident, which is the latest in a series of arrests and threats made against Bhuyan in recent years. Bhuyan, the editor of the Assamese-language […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to information made available by RSF on 17 July 1998, on 12 July 1998, Puyam Theiba, a reporter for the local newspaper “Panthungfam”, was assaulted and injured by army soldiers in the state of Manipur when they raided his house. They claimed that the journalist was involved in anti-Indian activities. Meanwhile, at […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to information made available by RSF on 8 July 1998, on 7 July 1998, Mathew Marak, editor of the daily “Achik Mikasal”, received a letter containing death threats from rebel groups belonging to the separatist Achik National Volunteer Council. The separatist militants said in their threats that Marak had written several reports […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – “Financial Express” journalist Shivaji Sarkar was among a group of bus passengers returning from a pilgrimage who were beaten by army personnel in the hill region of Uttar Pradesh state on 23 June 1998. The passengers had earlier objected to an army vehicle blocking the road. The vehicle pulled up alongside the bus […]

(IPI/IFEX) – On 16 June 1998, four journalists, including two photographers, were hospitalised with serious injuries after they were attacked at the additional District Court in Kollam, Kerala state, by activists of the ruling Marxist Communist Party (CPM). Police reportedly stayed away from the court premises until the attack was over. The hospitalised journalists are […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to information released by RSF on 18 May 1998, Dhiren Chakravarty and Atanu Bhuyan, editor and executive editor respectively, of the Guwahati-based daily “Ajir Batori”, were woken up and arrested at 3:00 a.m. (local time) on Friday 15 May, by Assam state policemen (in the northwestern state of Assam). They are charged […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In late November 1997, the Advisory Committee, the local administrative body for the National Security Act (NSA), concluded that the grounds for detaining Ajit Bhuyan, former editor of the Assamese-language daily newspaper “Asomiya Protidin” and its sister paper, the Assamese-language weekly “Sadin”, were not acceptable and ordered his release. Following this decision, the […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – According to reports from India received by CPJ, 50 armed men attacked the Madurai office of the Tamil-language daily newspaper “Dinamalar” in the early morning of 1 March 1998. Bearing clubs and knives, the armed men assaulted the office watchman, hurled four molotov cocktails, and destroyed property which included press equipment, windows, electrical […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 7 February 1998, Prakash Mahanta, a reporter for the newly founded Assamese-language weekly newspaper “Natoon Somoy” (New Times) was assaulted and detained. His assault is the latest in a series of attacks against journalists in Assam. According to CPJ, a group of Assamese police officers known locally as the “Black Panthers”, led […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – Ajit Bhuyan, editor of the widely read Assamese-language newspaper “Asomiya Protidin” (“Assamese Daily”) and its sister paper, the Assamese-language weekly “Sadin” (“Seven Days”), has been the target of repeated arrests since August 1997. According to news reports, Bhuyan has been linked by state authorities to the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) […]

On 1 August 1996, three unidentified men — one armed with a pistol — abducted Ashraf Shaban, the editor-in-chief of the Urdu-language daily “Al-Safa”, from the newspaper’s offices in Srinagar, Kashmir, and forced him into an auto-rickshaw taxi. Shaban has not been seen since and no one has claimed responsibility for his abduction. Shaban, who […]

On 8 July 1996, an Indian-backed counter-insurgency militia kidnapped and detained 19 journalists in Kashmir. The journalists, who were released unharmed that same evening, were held as hostages by the militia to secure a meeting with the editors of Kashmir’s leading newspapers. The 19 journalists were traveling together from Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, […]

On 17 May 1996, journalist and human rights activist Parag Kumar Das was shot by unidentified gunmen in Guwahati, in the northeastern state of Assam. Das, the editor-in-chief of the daily “Asomiya Pratidin”, was picking his son up from school when three men drove up in an automobile and opened fire. Das was shot at […]