Kerala Journalist Arrested by Nagpur Police for Criticising Operation Sindoor

Mangaluru: The Nagpur police have arrested a 26-year-old Kerala-based journalist for posting a social media message criticising Operation Sindoor – India’s military strikes against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The journalist, Rejaz M. Sheeba Sydeek, who has been actively reporting on human rights issues in southern states, was arrested at a hotel in Nagpur, Maharashtra. 

The Lakadganj police station, where the FIR was registered on May 7, has also accused Rejaz of being a member of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation. A local magistrate court remanded him to police custody until May 13.

Rejaz, who studied social work at Kerala University, has been writing for the Kerala-based news platform Maktoob and Counter Currents. His articles have primarily focused on police excesses and human rights violations in prisons, among other issues.

In the past 10 days, this is the second FIR filed against Rejaz. On April 29, a case was registered against him and a few other journalists for participating in a pro-Kashmir protest in Kochi. The protest was organised to highlight the demolition of houses of those allegedly involved in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. 

The protesters had merely emphasised that the demolition of houses violated a recent Supreme Court judgment.

Before this, in 2023, Rejaz was booked when he was on ground covering the Kalamassery blast case. Rejaz’s report had exposed the police’s alleged anti-Muslim sentiments while investigating the case. An FIR was registered against Rejaz. 

When Rejaz travelled to Kodagu to report on the death of an 18-year-old labourer from the Paniya Yerava Adivasi community, he was again detained by the police. His friends say Rejaz has been targeted and was facing increased surveillance for the past three years. On several occasions, Rejaz, on his social media accounts, has posted about the Kerala State Special Branch (SSB) officials shadowing him.

The FIR registered by the Nagpur police claims that Rejaz was arrested following intelligence inputs indicating he was staying in a hotel room in the city. A police team raided the hotel where he had checked in with a 24-year-old female friend from Bihar. The female friend was also detained for several hours along with Rejaz. At the time of filing this report, it was unclear whether she had been arrested in the case. Rejaz was produced alone before a magistrate court.

Among the materials seized from the hotel at the time of the arrest were three books: He Who Defied Death: Life and Times of Prof. G.N. Saibaba, The Great Legacy of Marxism-Leninism: Lenin on the Socialist State, and Only People Make Their Own History. The police also seized a T-shirt in which Rejaz allegedly posed in one of his social media posts, holding two guns. 

Although the FIR does not specify whether the guns were fake or real, the police have applied Section 149 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) for “collecting arms or other materials with the intention of waging war against the Government of India”. The maximum punishment under this section is life imprisonment. In the remand application, the police stated that his custody was needed to determine the source of the guns.

Other charges include Sections 192, 353(1)(b), 353(2), and 353(3) of the BNSS for “wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot” and “statements conducing to public mischief.”

The remand application also raises questions about Rejaz’s visit to Nagpur, stating, “He was in Nagpur for three days. The purpose of his visit needs to be investigated.”

The FIR specifically mentions another post in which Rejaz criticised the Indian Army’s Operation Sindoor, which allegedly led to civilian deaths in Pakistan. The police claim that Rejaz wrote “Indian Army Murdabad” in the post. The Instagram post included a photo of a child with the message, “This is a child!!! Targeting kids is serving justice??? Indian Army Murdabad!!!” 

The police further alleged that Rejaz condemned Operation Sindoor, along with Operation Kagaar, which has been underway in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, where over 400 individuals, including both Maoists and civilians, have died in recent months.

Rejaz’s social media handle has been withheld.

According to Rejaz’s friends and colleagues, as a young student, he was part of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), a left-wing student organisation. He later became disillusioned and joined the Democratic Students’ Association (DSA), an organisation believed to have ultra-left leanings. The FIR mentions pamphlets from the journal Nazariya, which it describes as grounded in the belief that revolutionary theory and organised resistance are essential to building a new world free from exploitation, inequality, and oppression. Nazariya, active on social media, is known to espouse Maoist ideology and has recently supported the banned party’s demands for a ceasefire and peace talks.

The Nazariya pamphlet, attached in the FIR, indicates that the group was preparing a booklet advocating for peace talks in Bastar. Several rights organisations have been actively pushing for peace talks in recent weeks following the indiscriminate killings of alleged Maoists and civilians in the conflict zone of central India.

Just before his arrest, Rejaz was in Delhi to participate in a press conference organised by the civil society platform Campaign Against State Repression. The police, branding the platform as a “frontal organisation” of the banned Maoist group, claimed that Rejaz visited Delhi to engage in Maoist activities. The press event was public, and Rejaz had posted video clips of his talk on his social media handle, which is now withheld. Among the other speakers include documentary filmmaker Sanjay Kak and Prabir Purkayastha, Editor-in-Chief of NewsClick. The event focussed on criminalisation of journalists. 

The Nagpur police’s remand application states that Rejaz’s name appears at the top of Maharashtra’s list of Maoist activists.