With state and central forces ready to launch a major offensive against Naxalites, the Chhattisgarh police have served notices on a couple of print and electronic media journalists in the tribal Bastar region, asking them to explain the basis of news reports quoting Maoist ?versions? of encounters.
The Dantewada district police has served notices under the Criminal Procedure Code Section 91?summons to produce documents?on two journalists working for Hindi dailies here after they published the version of Ramanna, a leader of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), of the September 19 encounter near Singanmadugu in South Bastar. In Bastar, the police also slapped a notice on Rakesh Shukla, a TV journalist in Kanker district, after the regional channel telecast footage, purportedly showing Maoists claiming responsibility for the killing of Bastar Janpad Panchayat president Tansen Kashyap, son of Bastar?s BJP MP Baliram Kashyap.
?The police served the notice on us at around 8.30 pm, asking us to reply within three hours. We furnished our replies, pointing out that the Maoist version published in the newspaper was on the basis of a call received on mobile phone. The caller, who identified himself as Maoist leader Ramanna, alleged that some of those who were gunned down by the security forces during ?Operation Green Hunt? were not rebels but innocent villagers,? journalist Anil Mishra said.
Along with its notice to the TV journalist, Bastar police also attached a copy of a memorandum submitted by the BJP?s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morha stating that the media had hurt sentiments of local people by telecasting the Maoist version that contained allegations against the slain tribal leader.
At a meeting in Jagdalpur, journalists described it as an attempt to browbeat the Bastar media, which they pointed out, has always been ?balanced? in covering the conflict zone.
?Bastar journalists are caught between the devil and the deep sea. Maoists have been circulating letters, accusing the media of being stooges of the government and alleging that they published only police version on encounters and other incidents,? said Bastar Zila Patrakar Sangh chief S Karimuddin.
?We are meeting again on October 11 to work out a strategy to deal with the situation?, he added.
Meanwhile, the police point out that a major combing operation in Manpur-Mohalla region of Rajnandgaon district had to be called off after the local media came out with operational details.