Assam: Senior Journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder Granted Bail Amid Controversy

GUWAHATI: Senior journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder, arrested on Wednesday, has been released on bail in one of the cases against him.

His arrest generated universal outrage among media professionals and political circles, with intense allegations against the ruling BJP government in Assam.

Mozumder was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in Guwahati the same day after he was arrested. His arrest was connected to his questioning of the Managing Director (MD) of the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank during an ongoing protest against purported financial irregularities. The protest, led by the Assam Jatiya Parishad's youth wing, Jatiya Yuva Shakti (JYS), was held in front of the headquarters of the bank seeking transparency and accountability.

The arrest has provoked biting criticism from the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), with the organization blaming the BJP government for orchestrating false charges against the journalist with the intent of stifling opposition. AJP President Lurinjyoti Gogoi and General Secretary Jagadish Bhuyan made a strongly worded statement decrying the exploitation of sensitive legislation to arrest a journalist simply doing his job. They claimed that the police have abused the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to falsely arrest Mozumder, an action they labeled as a historical mistake by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's government.

In spite of all efforts from the government to criminalize Mozumder through strict legal provisions, the court did not find any considerable evidence against him, and hence, he was granted bail. AJP leaders, however, said that this is a worrying precedent that shows how legal provisions designed for the protection of underprivileged groups are being misused by the government as a tool of political repression. They also accused the government of trying to arouse ethnic conflicts in Assam.

Protests broke out throughout the state after Mozumder's arrest, and journalists and civil society activists opposed the clampdown on press freedom. The AJP condemned the Assam Police for becoming a political instrument during the BJP regime. In the party's view, this is an example of increasing authoritarianism in the administration, where even media experts cannot be exempted from intimidation and false arrests.

Gogoi and Bhuyan said that Mozumder's arrest has brought journalists in Assam together, most of whom were already discontented with the BJP regime. They asserted that even with increasing government pressure on media proprietors, journalists are more resolute than ever to fight what they term an oppressive regime. The AJP urged all social, ethnic, and opposition forces to stand with journalists and participate in what they termed a "historic awakening against authoritarian rule."