Silchar/Hailakandi: The editor of a news portal in Barak Valley of Assam has been slapped with sedition charges. The Silchar Press Club demanded Tuesday that it be revoked immediately or journalists will continue their protests against it. The charges were slapped Friday on the editor, Anirban Roy Choudhury. An FIR was filed against him for allegedly seeking to create a division between the Assamese and Bengali communities in Barak Valley by his editorial ‘Welcome to the paradise of the spineless – we are Assamese’.
The editorial had appeared after the arrest of Barak Democratic Front convenor Pradip Dutta Roy, also on sedition charges, following an ultimatum issued by him to the administration to remove a government hoarding on Covid-19 vaccination drive in Assamese put up in Bengali-dominated Silchar within 48 hours. It was found removed November 26 and Dutta Roy was arrested the next day.
The FIR was filed by a person named Santanu Sutradhar, who is a member of the All Assam Bengali Hindu Association. Roy Choudhury was summoned by Cachar sadar police station Monday.
Besides sedition, Roy Choudhury was also charged under several other sections and he had appeared at the police station accompanied by around 50 journalists from across Barak Valley. He was interrogated for over more than an hour and allowed to go on public recognisance bond on the condition that he will appear before the police whenever summoned, police said.
Roy Choudhury said that he will fight against the charges legally and will move the court soon.
Silchar Press Club secretary Shankar Dey said Roy Choudhury may not have been arrested and had been allowed to go on PR bond but ‘our protests will continue till the sedition charges against him are dropped’. “We will not tolerate false and fabricated sedition charges against journalists at any cost and our protests will be on,” Dey added.
More than 150 journalists of the three Barak Valley districts had wriiten to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma urging him to drop all charges against the editor as it was an attack on the right to the freedom of expression.
Dutta Roy was arrested on 27 on sedition charges for creating disharmony among the Bengali and Assamese speaking communities in the state following the removal of the hoarding.