GUWAHATI: An FIR was lodged on Wednesday, October 6, against The Hindu editor and two others for allegedly publishing certain “controversial articles" about the Sipajhar eviction drive of September 23.
The FIR has been filed in the Guwahati’s Latasil Police Station against Suraj Gogoi, research scholar at National University of Singapore; Angshuman Choudhury, senior researcher at Institute of peace and conflict studies of New Delhi; and Suresh Nambath, Editor of The Hindu.
The Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), led by advocate Upamanyu Hazarika, has filed the complaint. In the FIR, allegations have been made that on September 30 Suraj Gogoi wrote an article in The Hindu "with instances of offensive speech being made against Assam and the larger Assamese community."
The allegation made against Angshuman Choudhury is that he had compared arrested photographer Bijoy Bania, who pounced on the dead, with that of Lachit Borphukan on his blog. The said writer later deleted the Lachit Borpuhkan reference upon receiving strong reactions.
The PVM further stated that the accused persons by their publication has intended to promote enmity among different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and disturb public tranquility.
The Sipajhar eviction drive, which was carried out by the District Administration on September 23, created a massive clash among the locals and police personnel. The conflict took the lives of two local persons and injured as many as seven police personnel. The photographer, who was seen jumping and stomping on the prostrate body of a man who was killed by a gunshot, was arrested later.