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Bastar Court acquits Somaru Nag, journalist arrested on charges of aiding Maoists

 

 

In a major embarrassment to the Chhattisgarh police, a journalist, who was accused of Maoist links by the police, was acquitted of all the charges by a court in restive Bastar region on Thursday. Somaru Nag, a resident of Khindawada village of Bastar, was detained by the police on July 16 last year from Darbha area.

He was shown to be arrested on July 19 and charged under Sections 147, 148, 149, 342,395, 435, 506 and 120 D of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act Sections 25 and 27 for allegedly helping the Maoists.

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Chhattisgarh police, led by Bastar range Inspector General of (IG) Police SRP Kalluri, had targeted three more journalists — Santosh Yadav, Prabhat Singh and Deepak Jaiswal — in Bastar after Mr. Nag’s arrest

Additional District Judge Niranjan Lal Chouhan quashed all charges against him, citing lack of evidence

Journalist Somaru Nag, who was arrested on charges of aiding Maoists in Chattisgarh’s Bastar area in July 2015, was acquitted by a local court on Thursday. Additional District Judge Niranjan Lal Chouhan quashed all charges against Nag, citing lack of evidence. His lawyer Arvind Chowdhury confirmed the development to Scroll.in.

Nag was arrested along with another journalist Santosh Yadav, who is still in jail. In October, hundreds of journalists organised a rally in the state capital Raipur to protest against their arrests and to demand more protection from the government. After journalists took out another rally in Jagdalpur in December, Chief Minister Raman Singh announced that a committee of editors would be set up to vet complaints against journalists before the police stepped inhttp://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/court-acquits-bastar-journalist-charged-with-maoist-links/article8882326.ece

1 Comment

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  1. The police were able to jail him for one year – that is sufficient for them, they do not really require a conviction. The process, which they can initiate at will, is itself a punishment.

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