The arrest of a Lalgarh-based activist by policemen posing as journalists has ignited a firestorm of criticism in West Bengal, reports Chandrasekhar Bhattacharjee
Police are expected to go after impersonators; not
become impostors themselves. Yet this is exactly what the West Bengal police are being accused of. Posing as journalists of two non-existent publications – one as a reporter of Asian News Agency of Singapore and the other as a camerman of Tazaa TV channel of Kolkata – they arrested Chatradhar Mahato, the most vocal face of Lalgarh’s Police Santras-Birodhi Janaganer Committee (People’s Committee against Police Atrocities).
Angered by the police action, Press Club Kolkata has shot off letters to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, state Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti and Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, condemning the manner in which Mahato was arrested.
This masquerading by the police as media persons has also drawn the ire of prominent intellectuals. Mahasweta Devi, poets Sankhya Ghosh and Joy Goswami, theatre personalities Bibhas Chakraborty and Kaushik Sen, novelist and green activist Joya Mitra and the Association for People’s Democratic Rights (APDR) have begun a mass dharna at Esplanade – just as they did when Nandigram erupted.
Says Premananda Ghosh, president of Press Club Kolkata: “We have nothing to say about the arrest. But by posing as journalists these cops have certainly endangered our lives. They even used Press identity cards. People will lose faith in journalists, and this is what we are protesting against.” As Arundhati Roy points out, the cops’ motive was to make sure no news of atrocities in the Lalgarh and Junglemahal areas came out.
Journalist associations and district journalist bodies in West Midnapore, Burdwan and elsewhere have all come down heavily on the police. In the initial days of the Lalgarh mayhem journalists had felt free to report from the troubled areas. But after the Joint Forces Operation only a few “embedded” scribes were allowed in – though even they came under the police baton after they were spotted photographing police atrocities on innocent women, children and tribals.
Says Chandan Routh, a staffer of the Kolkata-based Dainik Statesman who saw it all: “All this is bound to create deep mistrust between us and common people.” A high level source in a central security agency told TSI on condition of anonymity that the police action was particularly reprehensible because Mahato is not a Maoist. According to him the Centre has advised the state not to arrest him because it would only make the task of the joint forces even more complicated than it already is.”
Police are expected to go after impersonators; not
become impostors themselves. Yet this is exactly what the West Bengal police are being accused of. Posing as journalists of two non-existent publications – one as a reporter of Asian News Agency of Singapore and the other as a camerman of Tazaa TV channel of Kolkata – they arrested Chatradhar Mahato, the most vocal face of Lalgarh’s Police Santras-Birodhi Janaganer Committee (People’s Committee against Police Atrocities).Angered by the police action, Press Club Kolkata has shot off letters to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, state Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti and Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, condemning the manner in which Mahato was arrested.
This masquerading by the police as media persons has also drawn the ire of prominent intellectuals. Mahasweta Devi, poets Sankhya Ghosh and Joy Goswami, theatre personalities Bibhas Chakraborty and Kaushik Sen, novelist and green activist Joya Mitra and the Association for People’s Democratic Rights (APDR) have begun a mass dharna at Esplanade – just as they did when Nandigram erupted.
Says Premananda Ghosh, president of Press Club Kolkata: “We have nothing to say about the arrest. But by posing as journalists these cops have certainly endangered our lives. They even used Press identity cards. People will lose faith in journalists, and this is what we are protesting against.” As Arundhati Roy points out, the cops’ motive was to make sure no news of atrocities in the Lalgarh and Junglemahal areas came out.
Journalist associations and district journalist bodies in West Midnapore, Burdwan and elsewhere have all come down heavily on the police. In the initial days of the Lalgarh mayhem journalists had felt free to report from the troubled areas. But after the Joint Forces Operation only a few “embedded” scribes were allowed in – though even they came under the police baton after they were spotted photographing police atrocities on innocent women, children and tribals.
Says Chandan Routh, a staffer of the Kolkata-based Dainik Statesman who saw it all: “All this is bound to create deep mistrust between us and common people.” A high level source in a central security agency told TSI on condition of anonymity that the police action was particularly reprehensible because Mahato is not a Maoist. According to him the Centre has advised the state not to arrest him because it would only make the task of the joint forces even more complicated than it already is.”
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
Read these article :-
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better
IIPM fights meltdown
IIPM
