Court acquits scribe of Maoist-link charge

RAIPUR: Bastar-based tribal journalist Somaru Nag, who was arrested a year ago on charges of having links with Maoists, walked free on Friday after the Jagdalpur court in south Chhattisgarh acquitted him, citing lack of evidence.

“All the charges slapped by the police against Somaru Nag were quashed by court. The additional district judge observed that none of the direct or indirect evidence produced could be proved. The judge further said it might not appear to be sound to indict him on the basis of statements of a single investigating officer,” Nag’s legal counsel Arvind Choudhary said.

Nag, 25, and Santosh Yadav, another journalist, were arrested on July 19 and September 29 last year for their alleged links with the outlawed CPI (Maoist). “The court hearing in Yadav’s case is scheduled for October 17,” Choudhary said.

Both Nag and Yadav worked as stringers in the restive Darbha region of Bastar.

In October last year, journalists from Bastar and other districts of Chhattisgarh held a demonstration in the state capital, protesting against the journalists’ arrests.