One more journalist was arrested by the police in restive Bastar region of Chhattisgarh on Saturday.
Deepak Jaiswal, a young reporter of a Hindi newspaper ‘ Dainik Dainadini ’ based in Dantewada district of Bastar , was arrested in a case of “entering the examination hall, trespassing, obstructing public servant in discharge of public function”, which was registered against him last year.
According to local sources, Mr.Jaiswal was a close associate of journalist Prabhat Singh, who arrested by the police earlier this week.
Mr.Jaiswal was reportedly arrested from court premises in Dantewada, where he had gone to witness court proceedings in Mr.Singh’s case.
When asked about the scribe’s arrest, Dantewada district Superintendent of Police (SP) Mr.Kamlochan Kashyap refused to call him a “journalist”.
“Mr.Deepak Jaiswal is not a journalist. We asked the publicity wing of the government about him and they have given us in writing that he was not registered with them as a journalist. He runs a hotel business here. He has been arrested a case in which Prabhat Singh is also a co-accused. He was a close friend of Prabhat Singh. We immediately produced Deepak Jaiswal in the court and he has been sent on four days of judicial remand,” Mr.Kashyap told The Hindu.
Mr.Jaiswal became the fourth Bastar journalist to be arrested in last six months.
The South Bastar Reporters Association, however, came down heavily on the police for refusing to accept Mr.Jaiswal as a journalist.
“Mr.Deepak Jaiswal was a full-time journalist since last two years and I can personally testify for that. We have decided that from now on, no coverage will be given to the police or the Maoists by reporters based in Dantewada district. Why should we report about them if they do not even consider us journalists? We will speak to our counterparts in neighboring Bijapur, Sukma and Bastar district and we would ask them to join us in blocking news related to the police and Maoists. We are journalists and not a part of any party here,” Mr.Bappi Roy, the president of the South Bastar Reporters Association told The Hindu.
