Press Council seeks Tripura govt comments on arrest of two women journalists

The Press Council of India (PCI) on Wednesday took cognizance of the arrest of two women journalists by the Tripura Police and called for the state government's comments on the matter.

Chairman of the council Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad has viewed it with “grave concern”, the PCI said in a statement.

Journalists Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha from the HW News Network, who came to Tripura to write on the recent communal incidents, were detained by the Assam Police at Karimganj's Neelam Bazar, close to the Assam-Tripura border, on Sunday.

Later, they were brought to Tripura and formally arrested on Monday morning on charges of posting inflammatory and fake news on social media.

The two were, however, released on bail later on Monday.

''It has come to the notice of the Press Council of India that Swarna Jha and Samridhi Sakunia, journalists, were arrested by Tripura Police over their reporting on the communal clashes in Tripura,” the PCI said in a statement.

PCI chairman Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad has viewed it with “grave concern” and has taken “suo-motu cognizance” in the matter, the council added.

''Comments from the government of Tripura have been called through the chief secretary and the director general of police,'' it said.