Assam Journalist Charged With Sedition Over Article On BDF Convener Pradip Dutta Roy

Guwahati: The Assam police have booked a journalist under sedition charges in Assam's Silchar district, allegedly for writing an article on the arrest of lawyer Pradip Dutta Roy in local website.

Reportedly, acting on a First Information Report (FIR) lodged by Santanu Sutradhar, a businessman, journalist Anirban Roy Choudhury was booked at Silchar Sadar Police Station under sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups) and 124 (A) (sedition), along with other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"He has been summoned under Section 41(A) (notice of appearance before police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to the police station on December 6," police said.

Notably, on November 28 the journalist wrote a article in local news portal Barak Bulltein over the arrest of Pradip Dutta Roy. The article – Welcome To The Paradise Of The Spineless — We Are Assamese.

As per reports, the said article criticized local Bengali residents for not extending support to Roy in his tough times when he was arrested on November 27.

In the last month, the controversy erupted in Silchar following the removal of a central government's Covid-19 vaccination campaign poster written in Assamese.

After this, Dutta Roy had objected the using only Assamese language in the government poster and claimed that it was a violation of the Assam language law.

The Cachar Police had arrested Dutta Roy, the Chief convener of the Barak Democratic Front (BDF) nearly after 8 hours of interrogation for issuing ultimatum of 48 hours to replace an Assamese hoarding with a Bengali one.

Cachar, Superintendent of Police (SP) Ramandeep Kaur confirmed the case registered against him at Silchar Sadar Police Station by Hindu Yuva Parishad.

Charges were slapped against him under the sections 153, 295, 124, 505, 506.

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