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News Desk: Tripura Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury has called the two women journalists, who were arrested for reporting on alleged communal incidents in Tripura recently, “agents of a political party”.
“The two journalists wanted to vitiate the atmosphere of Tripura. They did not co-operate with the police. When the police called them for questioning, they said they were leaving Tripura” Chowdhury said.
“They lied. Police came to know that they had fled Tripura and were leaving via Assam. That’s when Tripura Police informed their Assam counterparts” he claimed.
The two journalists — Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha, who work with HW News Network — were arrested based on a complaint filed by a VHP supporter with the Fatikroy police in Tripura. Soon after their arrest, HW News Network released a statement saying: “Assam Police has said that they don’t have any case against our journalists but Tripura Police asked to detain them.” The journalist duo was granted bail on Monday.
Earlier, The Ministry of Home Affairs had called social media reports of rape, mosque damage, and deaths in Tripura fake: MHA
Chowdhury alleged that Sakunia and Jha “intended to enter Tripura as journalists and use fake images to provoke people”. “We have seen what has happened in Amaravati, Maharashtra. So, these two came to Tripura as agents of a political party to disturb peace in Tripura using fake footage. They intended to defame Tripura and its people” said.
