A freelance journalist in Assam has been threatened for exposing a case of moral policing that saw a couple being forced to marry after a trial by a kangaroo court for an “immoral” act.
Monowar Hussain, who freelances for a news portal, a TV channel and an Assamese daily, filed an FIR with the Rangjuli police station on Saturday saying he had been threatened with dire consequences.
Rangjuli, about 95 km west of Guwahati, is in Goalpara district. People of Kheropara village near Rangjuli had on June 17 tried a married man and a divorcee woman for alleged illicit relationship, caned them in public and made them marry two days later.
Mr. Hussain had shot the video of the kangaroo court’s trial and uploaded it on social media that local TV channels picked up.
The journalist said he stopped venturing out of his house after receiving the threat from one Abdul Qader of the village. “I filed a case as I fear for my life. I was present when the couple was being tried by the villagers. The organisers had warned everyone against filming the trial, but I thought taking a video was my duty as a journalist,” Mr. Hussain.
Bhabesh Biswas, the officer in-charge of Rangjuli police station, confirmed the threat that the journalist received. “We are looking for Qader, the accused who deals in tractors,” he said.
The police have so far arrested three people in the moral policing case. They include Kurban Ali, who was the “judge” of the trial court.
