Chhattisgarh Journalist booked for Facebook post on encounter between police & Maoists

An FIR has been registered against a television journalist based in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district over his alleged "objectionable" social media post on an encounter between the police and Maoists in March this year. According to the police, a complaint was lodged against the journalist, Manish Kumar Soni, by corporator Alok Dubey.

'Amounts to insult to a tribal community'

On March 25, Soni had allegedly posted photographs of security personnel who were killed in a gun battle with Maoists on March 21 on his Facebook account with a comment in Hindi, a police official said.

"The investigation into the complaint concluded that Soni's post allegedly amounts to insult to a tribal community and was an attempt to provoke them," news agency PTI quoting the official said. No arrest has been made and further investigation is underway, he said.

The journalist was booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC on Sunday at Ambikapur police station, said Inspector General of Police (Surguja range) Ratanlal Dangi.

The alleged message posted by the journalist in Hindi roughly translates to, "The caste of those who died and the killers ...will be the same. Now understand the people behind the killings and you find the answers. Call them martyrs, salute them and wait for the next incident. The jungle could only be encroached upon by making tribals fight each other." 

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On March 21, seventeen security personnel, belonging to District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF), were killed in the encounter with ultras near Minpa village of Sukma district.

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Meanwhile, last year, a committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice Aftab Alam had drafted a Bill for the protection of media persons in Chhattisgarh. The committee was formed in February to draft a bill that would protect freedom of speech and expression of media in the state. The proposed Act also provides up to one year for a “public servant” who neglects his responsibilities to protect journalists.

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