Withdraw UAPA case against journalist: Women's Press Corps to Tripura Police

NEW DELHI: The Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) has expressed "shock and dismay" at a journalist and around hundred other people being booked by the Tripura Police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and demanded that the charged be withdrawn without delay.
"The Indian Women's Press Corps is shocked and dismayed by the act of Tripura Police of booking journalist Shyam Meera Singh under UAPA along with a 100 others. Shyam Meera 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 the picture of events. It is not the journalist's job to please people in power," a statement released by the IWPC said.
It claimed the charge of UAPA on Shyam Meera Singh was an attempt to silence journalists by misusing laws.
"The IWPC demands that all such charges be withdrawn immediately and media be allowed to do its work freely," said the statement.
Earlier on Sunday, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) had also condemned the police action.
The police in Tripura had on Saturday booked 102 social media account holders under the UAPA, criminal conspiracy and forgery charges and served notices to the authorities of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to freeze their accounts.
This action came after Tripura 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.
The Guild said one of the journalists, Shyam Meera Singh, has alleged that he has been booked under the UAPA for merely tweeting 'Tripura is burning'.
"This is an extremely disturbing trend where such a harsh law, where in the process of investigation and bail applications are extremely rigorous and overbearing, is being used for merely reporting on and protesting against communal violence.
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.
The state government had on October 29 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.
(With Agency inputs)