The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Journalist’s daughter to finally get a name as he returns home on bail
HIS ARREST HAD SPARKED PROTEST FOR BILL TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS WORKING UNDER PRESSURE FROM MAOISTS, GOVERNMENT
BASTAR JOURNALIST Santosh Yadav’s daughter was onemonth-old when he was arrested in September 2015 for allegedly aiding Maoists. Her mother, Poonam, had vowed not to give her a name until Yadav returned home in Chhattisgarh’s Darbha village. Giving her a name is a top priority for Yadav as he returned on Thursday after his release on bail.
“Since I have been released, I have only been holding my youngest daughter. I had been thinking about her all the time I was in jail, but I still do not have a name for her. I will name her after asking (activist) Soni Sori and other powerful women from the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group, who have given me support in these dark times.”
Yadav,whofreelancedfortwo newspapers, was arrested hours after he had an altercation with police officers at the Darbha policestation.hehadgonetothestationwithvillagersfrombadrimau to know about the whereabouts ofmendetainedfromtheirvillage. Allegedly spotted under the light of a flare bomb, Santosh was allegedtohavebeenpartofamaoist team that damaged a National Highway before exchanging fire with policemen on August 21, 2015.Activistsandjournalistshad calledthearrestarbitraryandmotivated. It sparked off a protest for a bill to protect journalists working under pressure from Maoists as well as the government.
Yadav said that a determination to return to journalism in Bastar and to give his daughter a name were his priorities after his 17-month imprisonment that ended after the Supreme Court granted him bail last week. “...I will not stop writing and will find a way to serve society through journalism again. That is my work and I will not let it go.”
Yadav’s lawyers insisted that the case against him was fabricated and that his name was added to the FIR months after it was registered. The police had failed to identify him in an identification parade. The lawyers maintained that Yadav was named in the case a month after he was arrested. He was initially accused of supplying information to Maoist leader Shankar.
Yadav echoed the lawyers. “On the day of the attack on the highway, I was not even in Darbha. I was in Jagdalpur. Before my arrest, the police had been pressurising me and threatening to do what they eventually did.” Yadav said that he was assaulted in prison for leading a protest demanding better conditions in Jagdalpur jail. He added that he was hit again when he was shifted to Kanker prison.