JOIN USFacing continued protests by a local outfit and police harassment, a woman journalist in Maoist-affected Bastar, Malini Subramaniam was forced to leave Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur where she was living for five years.
As protests against her continued, her landlord has issued her eviction notice on Thursday after he received a letter from police “making spurious claims” against her besides summoning him to Jagdalpur from state capital Raipur.
This happened despite top police officials assuring her that the probe into the attack on her rented accommodation on February 7 would be fair and her family would be safe.
Subramaniam, who earlier worked with International Committee of Red Cross, writes for news website Scroll.in.
While she has told the police that motorcycle-borne people have thrown stones at her house hours after a protest by Samajik Ekta Manch, her domestic help was detained by the police on Wednesday accusing her of throwing stones at her house.
Subramaniam said in a statement, “It became clear that in the guise of investigating my complaint, the police were going after those associated with me.
The last straw came when my landlord served me an eviction notice on Thursday afternoon.” In the evening, the manch staged a protest outside her lawyer’s office.
“Fearing for my safety, the editors of Scroll.in asked me to leave Jagdalpur,” she said adding, “it is heartbreaking to have to abruptly leave the place I have called home for the last five years.”
She said an “atmosphere of insecurity and intimidation” has compelled her to leave Jagdalpur.
Despite reassurances from the Chief minister Raman Singh, she said it is evident that journalists are still being threatened and intimidated in Bastar.