In Assam, ask about corruption and get arrested, learns Dilwar Hussain Mozumder

The first case against Assam journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder alleged that he had abused a guard, a member of a Scheduled Tribe, with a derogatory reference to his tribe.

However, that allegation only came to light after the journalist in question had been detained for nine hours before his arrest late in the night on 25 March.

The time was clearly utilised well to zero in on an allegation of crime and a complainant.

The obvious question, however, is how and when did the guard, posted at the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank, register his complaint? Did he do so over the phone? Did he leave his post in the course of or after the altercation from which Mozumder was taken away?

In any case, the journalist was booked under the SC/ ST Act.

When the court granted him bail next day, the police re-arrested him on Thursday night, 27 March. This time the complaints were apparently from the MD of the bank and another employee who alleged that the journalist had forced his way into the MD’s office and tried to steal ‘important documents’.

The bank in question, alleged Lok Sabha MP (and deputy leader of the Opposition) Gaurav Gogoi, is run by a BJP leader who happens to be a close associate of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma — who is, incidentally, the chairman of the bank per a Wire report. Per the same report, the BJP leader in active charge of the bank is Biswajit Phukan. (Notably, Gogoi represents Assam's Jorhat constituency — which he wrested from Sarma himself.)

[An Indian Express report slightly contradicts this, saying, ‘Significantly, the chief minister is a director of the Assam Co-operative Apex Bank (ACAB) and BJP MLA Biswajit Phukan is the chairman.’ Whichever the case is, both certainly seem to hold leadership positions at the bank, corroborating Gogoi’s allegation.]

Gogoi pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s podcast interview with Lex Fridman where he said he welcomed ‘criticism’ — and wondered that his colleagues seem immune to the attitude.

Now, the allegations against Mozumder would have sounded more credible had the journalist not filed a video report from the spot before he responded to a call from the police station.

The video records him asking the MD questions about the corruption allegations against the bank as well as a recruitment scam. The clip also apparently showed that it was the MD who invited the journalist into the office, refusing to answer the question outside.

Arup Kalita, the editor of The CrossCurrent — where Mozumder was employed — was quoted as saying that the bank’s MD invited the journalist to his office upstairs after the latter asked him some questions relating to the protest outside.

“As he was leaving the bank, my reporter got a call from the Panbazar Police Station asking him to report immediately. He was detained upon reaching the police station,” he said.

Meanwhile, the chief minister told reporters, “He is not even a journalist” — and further alleged that Mozumdar was an intruder, insinuating he had competing ‘business interests’.

He also made a point of the Assam government — which apparently operates outside ‘Digital India’ — does not recognise news portals as media outlets.

“We don’t register them, we don’t give them advertisements, we don’t give them ID cards. So, this person does not come under the Assam government’s understanding of a journalist,” he added.

To be fair, he was also gracious and added, “If you write something against me, you will not be arrested for that…” Mozumdar was not arrested on journalism-related charges, he reiterated.

Various journalistic groups and individuals, however — both in Assam and at the national level — seemed to have a different de-facto understanding of who is a journalist and what entails ‘journalism’.

Protests outside the police station and bank by fellow mediapersons as well as statements from the Gauhati Press Club, the Press Club of India, the Editor's Guild, et al., bear out this much: they consider Dilwar Hussain Mozumder one of the scribal tribe.

Meanwhile, the journalists (or not) of Assam point out that the chief minister’s family does own an Assamese news portal — besides other ‘legacy media’. Surely, then, Sarma should know his apples from his oranges, his true journalists from his influencers, etc.

The CrossCurrent editor Arup Kalita, however, pointed out that Mozumder is not only the assistant general secretary of the Guwahati Press Club but has been a journalist for a decade and a half or longer.

“He joined DY 365 (an Assamese satellite news channel) in 2011 and worked there for a long time. He joined us in 2022, and then in between he also worked in another organisation and rejoined us again just about a month ago. So, the chief minister saying that he is not a journalist doesn’t mean much,” added Kalita.

Media reports in Assam claim that Mozumder had gone to report on the protests going on outside the bank on the alleged recruitment scam and an allegation of a Rs 20.30 crore forgery.

Despite a plea for Mozumder to be remanded to five days’ police custody, the police failed to present substantial evidence to support the charges.So the court of the chief judicial magistrate granted him bail in case No. 110/25, filed under Section 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 3(1)(r) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Amendment 2015).

The chief minister is however on record as saying that the journalist has several cases filed against him and that he would be arrested in all of them.

Yet, a complaint by Mozumder himself has allegedly not been acted upon.

The question in everyone’s mind now is what the chief minister and MD Dombaru Saikia are trying to hide. What are these questions they are not willing to answer to the public?

Given their hostility to the media, the answers may take time to come, if at all.