Copy of the letter to the Governor, Orissa from Reporters Without Borders

H.E. Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare
Governor of Orissa
Raj Bhawan
Bhubaneswar 751 008
Orissa
 
Paris, 6 November 2009
 
Subject: Call for Laxman Choudhury's release
 
Dear Governor,
 
Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that defends press freedom worldwide, would like to share with you its deep concern about the fate of reporter Laxman Choudhury of the daily newspaper Sambad, who was arrested on 20 September.
 
As you probably know, Mr. Choudhury was charged with sedition after being found in possession of Maoist leaflets. He is now waiting to appear before the Orissa high court.
 
He had received the leaflets like a dozen other journalists. The Maoists send their press releases and leaflets to reporters on a regular basis. They constitute news material and receiving them can under no circumstances be regarded as evidence of Maoist links. For these reasons, we consider that Mr. Choudhury’s arrest by the Gajapati police is arbitrary and unjustifiable, and violates the Indian constitution.
 
We are afraid he may have been the victim of an act of revenge by local authorities who were alarmed by his revelations. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik promised to a delegation of four journalists that he would order an investigation into the allegations that Mr. Choudhury’s arrest was an act of revenge. But since then we have received no information about this investigation or how far it has advanced.

As the Orissa high court has not issued any ruling in this case, we urge you to use your constitutional authority to ensure that the petition is taken up by the court promptly so that Mr. Choudhury can be released.
 
I thank you in advance for the attention you give to this request.
 
Respectfully,
Jean-François Julliard
Secretary-General