IPI urges West Bengal Police to withdraw case against Maktoob Media

The International Press Institute has written to the Director General of West Bengal Police expressing concern over a criminal complaint against Maktoob Media. The press freedom organisation urged the police chief to withdraw the first information report and stop using legal mechanisms to harass and intimidate independent media.

The intervention concerns the outlet’s reporting on statements made by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. She alleged that senior Muslim police and administrative officers were excluded from official meetings and protocol duties during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visits to West Bengal. Those claims remain allegations, rather than established findings.

According to Maktoob’s account, the FIR was registered at Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station on September 19 following a written complaint. It referred to posts on the outlet’s X account and YouTube channel. Maktoob reported that no journalist or editor was named as an accused in the FIR.

The complaint alleged that the posts contained material capable of promoting enmity and disturbing public tranquillity, Maktoob said. In correspondence with X, police described the post as fabricated and malicious. That characterisation is the police position reported by the outlet, not an independent determination of the underlying allegations.

Maktoob said it learned about the case through a communication from X, rather than directly from police. Authorities sought information concerning the account’s creation, login activity and Android device configuration, according to the publication. The dispute therefore extends beyond the published posts to information associated with the outlet’s digital operations.

The Press Club of India also called for the FIR to be withdrawn in a statement dated September 26. It said Moitra’s allegations had already been made public and widely reported, and argued that covering serious allegations was part of journalists’ work. The club described the police action as an attack on press freedom and urged authorities to ensure journalists could work without fear.

The central distinction in the dispute is between reporting a public representative’s allegations and establishing whether those allegations are true. IPI’s intervention challenges the use of criminal proceedings against the publication for that reporting. Its demand for withdrawal does not itself resolve the factual questions surrounding attendance at the official meetings.

Moitra separately submitted a complaint to the National Commission for Minorities, according to Maktoob. The outlet reported that the commission subsequently sought a response from the West Bengal government. That process concerns the alleged treatment of the officers, while the police case concerns the publication’s social media coverage.

IPI’s letter adds an international press freedom organisation’s appeal to the domestic criticism of the FIR. The available accounts do not establish that police have withdrawn the case or responded to IPI’s request. The next substantive development would be an official response addressing the complaint and the concerns raised about action against the outlet.