INDIA: Manipur Police detain journalist to silence the media

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a local human rights organization based in Manipur, the Human Rights Alert (HRA), concerning the case of a journalist who has been detained by the state police in an alleged attempt to silence the local media in the state. The Manipur State Police Commando Unit arrested Mr. Ahongsangbam Mobi Singh on 29 December 2010 on the allegation that he is working for the secessionist elements operating in the state. Singh has denied the police case and has accused the police that they are trying to implicate him in a fabricated case as he was not willing to pay heed to the demands of either the government or the police. The All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU) supports Singh’s contention. The AMWJU observed a six-day protest by refraining from reporting news in the state. Singh is the Editor of vernacular daily Sanaleibak. The Chief Judicial Magistrate released Singh on bail yesterday. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

On 28 December 2010, a person claiming to be representing the Kangleipak Communist Party (Tabungba Meitei group) or KCP (Tabungba) telephoned Mr. Ahongsangbam Mobi Singh and asked him to send three members of the AMWJU to New Delhi to discuss matters regarding the publication of statements to be issued by the KCP (Tabungba). The KCP (Tabungba) is an armed militant organization operating in Manipur. The Government of India, listing the organisation as one of the armed militant groups in India, has prohibited its activities in the country. Singh, in the capacity of the Editor of Sanaleibak represents the AMWJU as its Vice-President and its spokesperson. The AMWJU is an apex body of professional journalists in Manipur.

Since the AMWJU has been refusing to publish any statements by the armed militant groups operating in the region, Singh initially refused to comply with the request and also informed the caller that the AMWJU did not have any money to undertake such travel. Hearing this, the caller informed Singh that the KCP (Tabungba) was willing to cover the travel expenses. Singh, was then asked to collect the money, Rupees 50,000.00, the next day, from a place where the caller informed Singh the representatives of the KCP (Tabungba) would meet him.

The following morning, at about 9am, Singh arrived at his office and within a short while received a call from a person who claimed that he was calling concerning the discussion that Singh had with the KCP (Tabungba). The caller informed Singh that he was to collect the amount promised the day before from the KCP (Tabungba) from the persons who would meet him in front of Singh’s office. Soon two persons in a cycle rickshaw came to the road in front of Singh’s office. When Singh met them, they pointed a pistol at Singh and soon a scuffle started between Singh and the two persons. Singh initially thought that the two persons were trying to kidnap him for ransom or for other criminal purposes, as it is common in Manipur. However, soon the two persons pulled out their photo identification cards and informed him that they were from the Manipur State Police Commando Unit and that they were not from the KCP (Tabungba).

At this time Singh received another call. The caller asked whether Singh received the money. The police officers, at gunpoint, instructed Singh to inform the caller that he had received the money for the travel. Having no other option, Singh complied. Once the call was over, the police officers searched Singh and recovered Rupee 2000.00 from him. The officers also took two mobile telephones that Singh possessed and also the key to his scooter. Then the officers took Singh to Imphal Police Station. They also took Singh’s scooter, which he had parked in front of his office building.

At the police station, one of the officers who arrested Singh, Mr. Ng. Robash Singh, filed a first information statement to the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Imphal Police Station. In this statement, the officer accused Singh that Singh was operating on behalf of the KCP (Tabungba) and is engaged in extorting money from civilian businessmen in town. The officer produced Rupees 50,000.00 to the OC alleging that he had recovered the same from Singh. The officer who filed the statement, Robash, is a Sub-Inspector stationed at the Imphal West Police Commando Unit.

Upon learning of the arrest, members from the AMWJU met Singh at the Imphal Police Station in presence of the Additional Superintendent of Police, Mr. A. K Jhaljit on the same day. Singh informed his colleagues of what had happened. In the meanwhile the Imphal police registered a criminal case against Singh, based on the allegations in the statement filed by the police officer against Singh. The FIR, number 575(12)2010, registered against Singh, accused him of offenses under Sections 17 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention), Act, 1967, meaning Singh was working in support of, or on behalf of, terrorist organizations. The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal yesterday released Singh on bail.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

The AMWJU has condemned Singh’s arrest. The AMJWU organized a sit-in-protest in front of the Manipur Press Club commencing their indefinite strike on 31 December. The immediate result of the strike was that the entire media in the state ceased to function from the day of the strike. However, the AMJWU called off the strike the day before yesterday.

The AMWJU also submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India seeking his intervention in the case. In the memorandum the AMWJU also raised the issue of security of the journalists and cited Singh’s case as an example. They met the Union Home Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram and expressed their concern about the security of working journalists in the state quoting Singh’s case as an example. The Chief Minister of Manipur, Mr. Okram Ibobi Singh, who was present in the meeting, informed the journalists that it is impossible for the state government to provide “fool-proof security to each and every scribe” working in the state.

The AMWJU further informed that operating within a conflict region like Manipur had several issues, including the security of the journalists from proscribed organisations and from the state police. The KCP and its several factions, like many other armed militant organizations, operate with impunity in the state. In 2008, the cadres from a particular faction of the KCP walked into the office of the local daily The Sangai Express and placed a bomb because the AMWJU had refused to publish statements issued by them. In yet another incident, six editors were held hostage by another faction of the KCP, as the media refused to publish statements issued by the KCP. In another incident, cadres of the KCP marched into Singh’s office and ransacked it since Singh refused to publish news in favour of the KCP. The state police had refused to provide any security to the journalists or to their institutions. It is in this background that Singh, as the spokesperson of the AMWJU agreed to meet the cadres of the KCP (Tabungba), when they wanted him to do so. Journalists in Manipur work in an extremely risky environment. Six journalists have been shot dead in Manipur in the recent past and many others subjected to mental and physical torture.

On the other hand the AMWJU believes that the media in Manipur is being targeted by the State Police for its role in exposing the alleged fake encounters that happens almost everyday in the state. One such encounter that happened on 23 July 2009, also exposed by the media is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Seven police officers are accused in the case and have been charge-sheeted.

The manner in which the police arrested Singh raises a series of questions:
1. Had the police received information — if the statements by the police were to be believed — what prevented the police from organizing for independent witnesses for witnessing the arrest?

2. Is it not the freedom of the media to meet their sources of news and information?

3. Had the police had information as to the meeting between Singh and the militant group, why did not the police take steps to arrest the members of the militant group, in the same process they arrested Singh?

4. Or was arresting Singh an attempt by the police to intimidate the media?

5. How and from where did the police obtain Rupees 50,000.00 that they now claim to have recovered from Singh at the time of arrest?

SUGGESTED ACTION: 
Please write letters to the authorities listed below asking them to intervene in the case immediately.

The AHRC is also writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression calling for an intervention in the case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER