Tehelka journo appears before inquiry commission

GUWAHATI, FEB 8: Teresa Rehman, the principal correspondent of the Tehelka news magazine for the Northeast appeared before the one-man PJ Agarwal Inquiry Commission in connection with the July 23, 2009 alleged "fake encounter" case in Manipur in Guwahati on Monday. However,surprisingly, she was not accompanied by her counsel. During deposition, she was asked by the Commission and the police counsels if she had verified the genuineness of the photographs published in her article in the August 8 issue of her magazine Tehelka, Teresa said she did not verify it by herself. She said once she had sent the photographs to her editor Tarun Tejpal, there was no communication as regards the genuineness or otherwise of the photographs.

She said the genuineness of the photographs could be tested by scientific method and examination. "The story was authored by me mainly on the basis of the photographs sent to me by a source," she said but did not name it. She however admitted that she had done the story sitting in Guwahati and that she had not visited Imphal for the purpose.
"I was with Tehelka group till December 2009. The provisions of Armed Forces Special Powers Act have been withdrawn from Imphal Municipal area and to my knowledge the said powers are withdrawn by the orders of the Central Government. The above statement was made by me as I had read about it. It is not a fact that the above statement was made by me without consulting
As regards the statement made on Manipur Police Commandos (MPCs), Teresa said it was entirely based on what retired IGP Th. Karunamaya Singh had told her.
 "However, I had not seen any Government notification creating or administering Manipur Police Commandos. I had a telephonic talk with Mr. Th. K. Singh. The talk was not recorded by me," Teresa said. She added that she had quoted the statement on verbatim and as such no additional verification was sought.
As regards the extra judicial killings and registration of 27 cases of torture and killings cited in her article, she said these were allegations against Manipur police commandos only "but I had not come across any document recording a finding to that effect".
"The official version of Sanjit's encounter mentioned in my article is based upon the report/news published in newspapers," Teresa said.
She told the Commission that she had examined some eyewitnesses but refrained from spelling out their names. "It is not a fact that I did not talk with any eyewitnesses of the incident and that the above statement made in my article has been falsely made. I have seen the post-mortem report of Rabina Devi. The report was seen after the publication of the above article," Teresa said. She also said that the statement in her report that Rabina was killed by a bullet fired by the police was based on newspaper reports and that she had no other information or knowledge about it.
"I had gone through newspapers such as The Sangai Express, Imphal Free Press…Before publication of the article, I had telephonic talk with Sanjit's mother Inaotombi Devi," Teresa said. She said it was not a fact that the photographs in question were all fabricated.
 After deposition, the journalist was visibly upset. When asked by NNN, Teresa said, "They all grilled me". She also could not give any satisfactory answer as to why she did not come with a counsel.
(Newmai News Network)