A Guwahati court has reprimanded the Assam Police while granting bail to journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumdar. The court said that the purpose of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is not to arbitrarily arrest people. In fact, Mozumdar was arrested twice last week, but he got bail in both the cases. In the first case, he was accused of making alleged “objectionable remarks” against a bank security guard.
The court termed the police allegations baseless.
The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metropolitan) granted bail to Mojumdar in this case on March 26. The court said that in the statement recorded in the case diary, the complainant has not mentioned any objectionable comment or threat against the journalist. The court said, “The investigating officer has failed to justify the arrest of the journalist.” The court also said that the purpose of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is to prevent harassment, and not to make it a weapon for arbitrary arrest.
Arrested again in another case
Mozumdar is a reporter for Assam-based digital media portal ‘The Crosscurrent’, which is known for its investigative reporting against the state government. He was arrested on March 25 when he was covering a protest against the Assam Co-operative Apex Bank (ACAB). Interestingly, the director of this bank is Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the chairman is BJP MLA Biswajit Phukan. After getting bail, Mozumdar was arrested again in another case. This time ACAB MD Dombaru Saikia accused him that Mozumdar forcibly entered the first floor of the bank and tried to steal documents.
Clear message of the court – Misuse of law will not be tolerated.
The court clearly said in this entire case that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act cannot be misused. The court said, “The law has been made to protect the weaker sections and it should not be used for arbitrary arrests on false charges.” While granting bail to Mojumdar, the court said that the grounds on which the police arrested him did not match the statement of the complainant. This decision of the court is being considered an important step in favor of press freedom.
