Balram Saini, the head of Punjab Kesari’s Jammu and Kashmir bureau, was booked by the Jammu and Kashmir police on August 9 for a “misleading report” carried by the newspaper. The report was published in the paper’s August 8 edition under the headline “Naye Jammu Kashmir Main Honge 12 Jile, 8 Jile Samapt”. The report said that eight districts will be merged with the other 12, and the newly-formed Union Territory would have 12 districts only. 

After the report’s publication, the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Samba, Rohit Khajuria, was gheraoed and stones were reportedly thrown at government functionaries. The Samba police have filed an FIR against the author of the report.

Shiv Dev Singh, Samba Police Station’s SHO, said the FIR was registered under Section 505 (1)(b) of the Indian Penal Code against Balram Saini. Under Section 505 (1)(b) of the IPC, a person can be booked for circulating any statement, rumour or report, with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity.

The news report cited the J&K Reorganisation Bill 2019 and claimed that Samba district in Jammu province will be clubbed with Jammu district, Reasi district with Udhampur, Kishtwar and Reasi with Doda, Ganderbal with Srinagar, Bandipora with Baramulla, Shopian with Pulwama and Kulgam with Anantnag. The report said the decision to club the eight districts will cost the Centre “dearly” and may lead to widespread public resentment in the state.

It is important to note that in 2007, Ghulam Nabi Azad, then chief minister in the Congress-PDP coalition government in the state, carved out eight new districts including Samba, Reasi, Ramban and Kishtwar in Jammu province and Kulgam, Ganderbal, Bandipora and Shopian in Kashmir province.

Divisional Commissioner refutes the report

Following the report’s publication, the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu, Sanjeev Verma, issued a corrigendum on the same day. In a press conference, Verma expressed anguish over the “spread of fake news in some newspapers” aimed at “disrupting peace and harmony” in Jammu and Kashmir.

Verma described the news appearing in a section of the media over the presumed reorganisation of various districts as “false and mischievous”, saying that such news is “fictitious, misleading, distortion and misinterpretation of facts” over the reduction of some districts in the Union Territory. He appealed to the public to pay no heed to such reports.

Verma also said the newspapers which carried this “misleading fake news” without confirmation from the designated authorities have “expressed regrets” and will clarify the same in their next edition. He said: “They (section of media) have also assured the administration that they will remain more responsible and conscious while reporting the events across the Union Territory.” He added that police action has been initiated against the persons spreading fake news.

All 20 districts are going to remain: government

Meanwhile, a government spokesman issued a clarification in the August 10 edition of Punjab Kesari. It read, “Amidst commotion over a news report published in Punjab Kesari newspaper with title, ‘Naye Jammu Kashmir Main Honge 12 Jile, 8 Jile Samapt’, we clarify that no district will be clubbed. All the 20 districts of J&K will remain as such.”

The clarification said that pages 31-37 of the J&K Reorganisation Bill 2019 states that excluding the four Legislative Assembly seats of Ladakh, the other 83 Legislative Assembly seats will be distributed in the 12 districts of Jammu and Kashmir as per the 1995 Delimitation.  

Referring to Page 3 clause (7), the spokesperson clarified that the central government has “assured” that in centrally-administered Jammu and Kashmir, the administrative units set by the previous governments, including districts and tehsils, will not be changed.

‘I quoted the Bill’: Saini

Balram Saini, on the other hand, said he was booked because the report he carried in the newspaper created a “law and order problem” in Samba district. Asked about the veracity of his report, he said, “I quoted pages 31-37 of the J&K Reorganisation Bill passed in both Houses of the Parliament. But I believe my inference was not absolutely correct.”

According to the Bill’s Third Schedule, Amendments to the Delimitation of Assembly Constituencies Order, 1995, the 12 districts of Jammu and Kashmir will see the process of delimitation for Assembly constituencies, which Saini reported as the new districts of the Union Territory. 

In the context of the FIR, Saini says, “Actually, [the] government would not have taken such a harsh step if there was not a law and order problem in Samba district. I think I should also cooperate with the government at this point in time.”   

Secretary-general of the Press Club of Jammu, Zorawar Singh Jamwal, said that in a sensitive and strife-torn place like Jammu and Kashmir, journalists need to be very careful while writing stories on sensitive subjects. “Here, we have always cooperated with the government and the nation while dealing with sensitive issues. We are duty-bound in J&K to confirm multiple times before reaching a conclusion.” 

(The author is a Jammu-based freelance reporter and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)