Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha were detained in Assam\u2019s Karimganj district and then handed over to the Tripura Police.<\/p>\n
The two journalists who were covering the recent anti-Muslim violence in Tripura were taken into police custody on Sunday and were booked on charges of “spreading communal disharmony” and this move has sparked widespread condemnation from press organizations. Activists have questioned the legality of their detention.<\/p>\n
On Sunday morning, the Tripura Police had filed a first information report against Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha, who work for the news channel HW News, based on a complaint by a person named Kanchan Das. He had alleged that Sakunia and Jha made an \u201cinstigating speech\u201d against the Hindu community and the Tripura government while visiting people from the Muslim community in the Unakoti district\u2019s Paul Bazaar area.<\/p>\n
In tweets posted in the morning, Sakunia and Jha alleged that they were being held captive in a hotel in the Dharmanagar sub-division of the North Tripura district. They eventually succeeded in leaving Tripura in the afternoon, but the police of neighboring Assam detained them in the Karimganj district and handed them over to the Tripura Police.<\/p>\n
\nFIR? in #Tripura<\/a>@Jha_Swarnaa<\/a> and I, the correspondent at @hwnewsnetwork<\/a> have been booked under 3 sections of IPC at the Fatikroy police station, Tripura.<\/p>\n
VHP filed complaint against me and @Jha_Swarnaa<\/a> FIR has been filed under the section: 120(B), 153(A)\/ 504. <\/p>\n
Copy of FIR pic.twitter.com\/a8XGC2Wjc5<\/a><\/p>\n
— Samriddhi K Sakunia (@Samriddhi0809) November 14, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n