Agartala : Chief Judicial Magistrate of Gomti district today granted bail to HW News Network’s Journalists Swarna Jha and Samriddhi Sakunia in case filed by Local VHP worker Kanchan Das. Both Journalists were arrested by Tripura Police and were produced before court. After one hour of hearing court has granted bail to the journalists.
Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha, journalists with HW News Network, were named in an FIR at Fatikroy Police Station in Tripura on Sunday on a complaint filed by a VHP supporter.
The bail to the two female journalists has been granted on bail bond of Rs 75,000 each. The court has asked them to appear before Kakraban Police Station where the case was registered. After questioning, they would be released: Advocate Pijush Biswas who appeared before the court.
Hw News Network’s Managing Editor Sujit Nair taking to twitter, speaking about the two journalists, he tweeted, “Chief Judicial Magistrate of Gomti District, Tripura grants @HWNewsEnglish journalist @Jha_Swarnaa and @Samriddhi080 bail. Our gratitude to our Lawyers and each and everyone who supported us.”
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Gomti District, Tripura grants @HWNewsEnglish journalist @Jha_Swarnaa and @Samriddhi0809 bail. Our gratitude to our Lawyers and each and everyone who supported us 🙏
— Sujit Nair (@sujitnair90) November 15, 2021
A senior police official had said in Agartala on Sunday the journalists posted on social media that a mosque was burnt in Gomati district and a copy of the Quran was damaged.
Tripura police suspect that the videos uploaded by them are doctored.
In a tweet on November 11, Sakunia had written, “#Tripuraviolence Darga Bazaar: On 19th October at around 2:30 am, some unidentified people burnt down the mosque in Darga Bazaar area.
People in the neighborhood are very upset with the fact that now they don’t have any place nearby to go and pray.”
A press release issued by the office of Tripura police chief VS Yadav claimed that the posts by Sakunia were not true and promoted a sense of hatred between communities.
The Editors Guild of India had denounced police action against the journalists and demanded their immediate release.
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