My reporting from the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh has been known for highlighting sensitive issues like Naxalism, police action, human rights violations and corruption
I am one of the very few journalists who have worked continuously in Dantewada (Bastar region of Chhattisgarh). During 2015–2016, I worked for Patrika newspaper and ETV Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. My reporting from the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh has been known for highlighting sensitive issues like Naxalism, police action, human rights violations and corruption. My most famous report, ‘Police statements are false: Modenaar’, was published in April 2015. In connection with this report, during a press conference, I met the then IG S.R.P. Some tough questions were asked to Kalluri. While other journalists remained silent or accepted the information given by the police, I raised serious questions about transparency in police operations. Because of this I came under the radar of the police.
Kalluri had said, “I will see you,” which was a form of threat. After this I started receiving threats again and again. Some false and minor charges (like forgery and fraud) had already been leveled against me, on which no action was taken for years. I was demanding a law to protect journalists and was active in a WhatsApp group named ‘Bastar News’. While being the IG of Kalluri, I was accused of tapping the phones of journalists and sending informants to core Naxalite areas in the guise of journalists by giving them their IDs. It was also said that by doing so I put the lives of journalists in danger from both the police and the Naxalites.
On the evening of March 21, 2016, when I was parking my car outside my office, plainclothes policemen picked me up without any reason and without a warrant. It was like ‘kidnapping’ without any process. Many other journalists and human rights organizations also described the arrest as illegal. I was accused of sending an ‘obscene’ message on WhatsApp in which I described some journalists as ‘sitting in my uncle’s lap.’ This was allegedly interpreted to mean that some journalists are in favor of the police and oppose the proposed law to protect journalists.
Along with sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act (disseminating obscene material through electronic means) and section 292 of the Indian Penal Code, the police also added three-four old pending cases against me to the list of charges. I was kept the whole night in Parpa police station of Jagdalpur in another district i.e. Dantewada, 80 kilometers away. During the hearing in the court, my bail plea was rejected. After that I remained imprisoned in Jagdalpur jail for about three months (96 days). I was kept with prisoners like Naxalites and rapists and I was treated very inhumanly.
Around June–July 2016, after a tough legal battle and immense pressure from international human rights organizations like Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, I was finally granted bail. My case was argued in the Bilaspur High Court by renowned advocates Kishore Narayan and Rajni Soren, while in the District and Sessions Court, Dantewada, advocate Kshitij Dubey also vehemently defended my case.
After being released from jail, I was removed from both Patrika and ETV Chhattisgarh institutions and I became unemployed. I had to face court cases again and again. The financial condition of my family kept worsening.
Due to the repressive journalistic environment in Bastar, many journalists have either become silent or have had to leave the area or have gone to jail. Some local journalists and people associated with the police targeted me by calling me ‘anti-national’. My arrest created a controversy not only in the country but also at the international level regarding the safety of journalists working in Bastar region. Till date, many journalists of this area have either become silent or are working under the shadow of fear.
The work done by some of us has become a ray of light in the all-round darkness. My story testifies that the price of speaking the truth can sometimes be imprisonment, disgrace or even death. Yet courageous people do not remain silent in the face of these challenges. Although I tried to continue reporting with the same fearlessness and frankness, I was ultimately pushed to the margins.
My story has become a symbol of honest journalism in Bastar region and the struggle for freedom of expression in tribal areas. Frustrated with the moral decline of journalism in this era, I have decided to leave journalism forever and start my own business. Presently I run a computer shop in Dantewada to support my family.
My story is a reminder of how heavy the cost of showing the truth is in a sensitive area like Bastar. Caught between Naxalites on one hand and the power of the state and police on the other, local journalists are still struggling. Many other journalists like me have also paid a heavy price for bringing the truth of Bastar before the world.
What happened to me in Bastar is an important but painful incident in the history of Indian journalism. I want these events to be remembered as a story of courage, oppression, the bitter experience of captivity and unshakable hope. This fight is not just for me alone as an individual, but for the basic right to speak the truth in Bastar. It shows how honest journalists are suppressed in these sensitive areas through tactics like threats, false cases and imprisonment. In this struggle, I lost my dear friend Mukesh Chandrakar, with whom I had a brotherly relationship. Chandrakar was murdered by a local contractor and his brothers, who were involved in road construction. His body was later recovered from a septic tank at the contractor’s premises.
(Journalist Prabhat Singh was detained on March 21, 2016, for reporting on police brutality in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. He was granted bail after three months.)