Chhattisgarh: Journalist Held for Writing Satire Copy Against Gov't

Raipur based journalist Nilesh Sharma, editor of Indiawriters.co.in and its magazine, was arrested last week for purportedly writing “political satires” which were allegedly critical of the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government. Sharma was named in a complaint filed by Congress member Khilawan Nishad with the Raipur cyber police, and was arrested on Wednesday.

According to Nishad the fictional characters in Sharma’s articles under his ‘Ghurwa Ke Maati’ column “resembled state ministers and CongMarch ress legislators”, and claimed that the journalist used derogatory remarks in his and “drove a wedge between ministers”. 

Sharma has been booked under IPC sections 505 (public mischief) 505 (1) (whoever makes or publishes rumour) and 505 (2) (promoting enmity or hatred), stated news reports. Police told the media that the FIR was registered as “Sharma was writing baseless articles spreading misinformation and rumors.” Chhattisgarh’s media fraternity termed the arrest an attempt to “curb dissent against the state government”. Sharma has been accused in the police complaint of “being right wing”. However, as reported by the Indian Express, he had published similar political articles critical of the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.

Ironically, after it formed the government in 2018, the Congress “promised a law to protect journalists against harassment” and a draft bill was shared for public feedback last year. To add to this, a day after Sharma was arrested, another unrelated incident was reported where a journalist was beaten up allegedly by a BJP leader in Raipur on Thursday. The accused identified as BJP’s Durg Zila Panchayat member Monu Sahu was arrested and remanded to jail for 15 days on Friday. According to the FIR, Sahu beat up journalist Dhirendra Giri over a “personal enmity” as per news reports.

It may be recalled that while a journalist was arrested for a ‘sattire’ column, which is not a news report, some who spewed hate at Dharma Sansad, are still roaming free in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh such as the saffron-clad woman identified as Sadhvi Vibhanand Giri, who had purportedly spoken at a ‘Dharam Sansad’. She was heard telling Hindu men to abduct Muslim women and sexually attack them. According to this woman, such an act will create fear in the minority community and keep them away from Hindu men. She is feeding on the bogey of so-called ‘love jihad’ as the right-wing lables interfaith marriages. “If any Muslim man laid their eyes on a Hindu girl from today onwards, their women will give birth to Hindu children, without a nikah or pheras,” she reportedly said, openly glorifying rape and promoting rape culture.

The video was purportedly from the ‘Dharma Sansad’ held in Raipur on December 26, the same event where Kalicharan aka Kalicharan Maharaj, alias Abhijit Dhananjay Sarag, had made derogatory comments against Mahatma Gandhi, and was arrested. She remains active on Facebook.