Outlook – June 29, 2019

PEN PRISON

18 OUTLOOK 1 July 2019

by Siddhartha Mishra

D

ILIP Kumar Sharma, a journal-

ist in Mahasamund, Chhattis-

garh, was unwell on the night of

June 13 and had fallen asleep

after taking medicines when,

around midnight, his daughter

Roli knocked on his door to tell him

that three men were at the front door

looking for him. Wearing only a vest

and towel, Sharma reached his gallery

to ask why he was being disturbed at

this time in the night. “Thaane le jaa

kar pooch taach karni hai (We have to

take you to the police station for ques-

tioning),” one of them said.

It’s being alleged that after jumping a

wall and seizing his phone, the cops took

Sharma to the police station against his

will, all the while abusing him and telling

him that they were going to teach him a

lesson. “Kalpana bhi nahi kar sakte the (I

couldn’t have imagined)...,”he tells

Outlook when asked if he had expected his

reportage would lead to this chain of

events. The report that irked the author-

ities so is quite straightforward: published

on his website WebMorcha.com on June

8, the piece reports that close to 50 vil-

lages had faced a blackout for two days.

The alleged widespread power cut had

made the state government lose its nerve

even before Sharma’s report was noticed,

when it got Mangelal Agarwal, a 53-year-

old man, arrested on charges of ‘sedition’

for ‘spreading rumours’ on social media.

CM Bhupendra Baghel, though, asked the

police to withdraw the sedition charge.

“I’ve been working as a journalist for 20

years, have done stories against the BJP

and the Congress, but in this case I really

don’t know why they took so much umb-

rage,” says Sharma. He adds that he hasn’t

got a copy of the FIR in which he has been

charged under IPC Section 505(1)( b),

which mentions “intent to cause, or

which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to

the public, or to any section of the public

whereby any person may be induced to

commit an offence against the State or

against public tranquillity.”

Sharma has rallied journalists around

him after his arrest. He says that after

they boycotted a government press con-

ference on Monday, his complaint against

police high-handedness has been regis-

tered. Outlook reached out to the police in

Mahasamund, who are yet to respond.

The BJP too has reportedly questioned

the Congress government in the state

A straightforward report or a mere tweet, it is

becoming alarmingly easier to get journos arrested

The Ugly Gag

Press Order

HARD

PRESSED

Protests

against the

arrest of

journalist

Prashant

Kanojia

Sharma was allegedly

taken to police station

against his will, the cops

abusing him and telling

him all the while that he

would be taught a lesson.

PTI