Imphal: Senior journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder, chief reporter at The CrossCurrent and assistant general secretary of the Guwahati Press Club, was granted bail by the Kamrup chief judicial magistrate (CJM)’s court on Wednesday (March 26) in one of the two cases filed against him.
However, he remains in judicial custody due to delays in submitting his bail bond.
Mozumder was arrested on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday after covering a protest against alleged corruption in the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank, of which chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is director and BJP MLA Biswajit Phukan its chairman.
The protest, organised by the youth wing of the Assam Jatiya Parishad, took place outside the bank’s premises.
He was detained soon after he tried to pose questions about the corruption allegations to the bank’s managing director, Dambaru Saikia.
Sources told The Wire that the police had registered two cases against Mozumder at the Pan Bazar police station.
The first (Case No. 110/25) includes charges under Section 3(1)(r) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Amendment 2015), and Sections 351(2) and 3(1)(r) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), linked to an alleged derogatory remark directed at a tribal individual.
The second case (Case No. 111/25) includes multiple sections of the BNS, all considered bailable offences. People are entitled to bail if held under bailable offences as long as they pay a bail bond.
Speaking to the media, his lawyer S. Tapader said that he was granted bail in Case No. 110/25 but that he couldn’t furnish his bail bond security. For this reason, he has to remain in jail tonight, he said.
His release is expected once the necessary paperwork is completed.
Tuesday’s protest which Mozumder had covered was against an alleged recruitment scam in the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank.
Arup Kalita, editor of The CrossCurrent, told The Wire, “Strangely, as he was leaving the bank, Mozumder got a call from the Pan Bazar police station, asking him to report at once. On reaching there, he was detained.”
Kalita said, “For nearly twelve hours, he was detained at the police station. His wife was not allowed to enter the police station nor was any colleague or several senior journalists who reached the police station on getting the news. Police refused to state to anyone on what grounds he was detained for so many hours.”
Around midnight, a police officer told the waiting family and journalists that he was arrested under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The slip given to his wife, however, did not mention the complainant’s name; neither did it mention where the incident took place.
“It only mentioned a line which Mozumder allegedly had said to a Bodo person,” said a relative of Mozumder’s.
Mozumder’s arrest triggered protests among journalists and media organisations in Assam. The Guwahati Press Club led a demonstration demanding his immediate release, with journalists marching to the CJM’s court in protest.
“The detention of a journalist for merely performing his duty is deeply concerning. We urge the authorities to release him at the earliest and ensure that press freedom is upheld,” the Guwahati Press Club said in a statement.
Police presence was heightened during the demonstration, leading to brief tensions between law enforcement and protesting journalists.
Journalists’ associations, civil society members and opposition leaders have criticised the arrest, calling it an attempt to intimidate the press.
The Press Club of India and the Editors’ Guild of India have condemned the police action, urging the Assam government to ensure that media professionals can operate without fear of harassment or legal intimidation.
The case has sparked a larger debate on press freedom in Assam, with many viewing it as part of a pattern of increasing pressure on independent journalists in the region.
