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“By then I knew something was wrong. The incessant calls from the police, the DIOS, it looked like they were going to implicate me.”

The journalists who fought back in Uttar Pradesh

Read this week's #CommonGround report by @psychia90 - scroll.in/a/1026629

“GOOSEBUMPS! Have you ever seen a journalist showing so much spine and courage before going to jail?”

Exposing misgovernance is risky for reporters in #UttarPradesh. This March, in the town of Ballia, some staked their freedom and did so anyway. scroll.in/a/1026629

#CommonGround: Digvijay Singh, a reporter for the Hindi daily Amar Ujala, along with two other journalists, had been arrested on charges of being complicit in the leaks of question papers for Class 10th and 12th board exams.

Their arrests defied logic scroll.in/a/1026629

#CommonGround: Uttar Pradesh has acquired a reputation of being a state that persecutes journalists for reporting stories about misgovernance.

Since 2017, when Adityanath became CM, nearly 70 journalists have been booked by the government.

Read more: scroll.in/article/1026629

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Read this week's report by @psychia90: scroll.in/a/1026629

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In UP, those who uncover stories of misgovernance risk retaliation from displeased authorities.

And yet some, like Digvijay Singh and his colleagues, persevere, despite receiving negligible financial support from the publications that print their stories. scroll.in/a/1026629

This week on #CommonGround, @psychia90 reports on the unique pressure-cooker environment of small-town journalism in India.

They not only lack the institutional support, but also, in most cases, don’t even earn a living wage. scroll.in/a/1026629

In March, a video of journalist Digvijay Singh went viral online. In it, he is seen surrounded by policemen, calling the DM of Ballia a thief, and the superintendent of police a thug. scroll.in/a/1026629

Singh, along with two other journalists, has been arrested.

UP: Manoj Gupta, who works for the daily Rashtriya Sahara, played a key role in procuring the leaked answer sheets, and the Sanskrit question paper and answer key that were published in March. scroll.in/a/1026629

He was later arrested by the UP police in Nagra.

Journalists,who had been crucial to publishing stories, and bringing exam paper leaks to the public eye, were arrested.

This wasn’t unusual – district authorities in UP had in the past, too, targeted those who had exposed the massive problem of the leaks. scroll.in/a/1026629

On March 29, as he finalised the story about the Sanskrit paper leak, Saurobh Singh, who heads Amar Ujala's Ballia bureau, received a leaked copy of English question paper, for an exam to be held the next day.

He insisted it was too big a story to let go. scroll.in/a/1026629

#CommonGround: Out in print, the rumour about the exam paper leaks was no longer a rumour.

There was reason to be cautious – authorities in UP's Ballia region were known to turn against reporters who wrote about such leaks. scroll.in/a/1026629

"You didn’t inform me, in writing or orally"

After the publication of the exam paper leaks story, the DM phoned Ajit Ojha, demanding that he send him the leaked material. Soon after, police arrested Ojha, accusing him of involvement in the leaks. scroll.in/a/1026629

Ojha told the DM he was apprehensive about sharing the leaked question paper with him because reporters had been in trouble in the past after sending such material to authorities.

Then there was a subtle threat after which the reporter finally gave in. scroll.in/a/1026629

"The incessant calls from the police, the DIOS, it looked like they were going to implicate me," Ajit Ojha told @psychia90

He said he felt “like a terrorist” as the police allegedly mishandled him when arrived at the Amar Ujala office to arrest him. scroll.in/a/1026629

#CommonGround | After the stories about the English exam paper leak, and alleged Sanskrit paper leak, were published, police descended on Amar Ujala's Ballia office to arrest Ojha. He claims they were violent, and manhandled him. scroll.in/a/1026629

#CommonGround | Under the late Kalyan Singh's chief ministership, Uttar Pradesh enacted a stringent law against cheating that is believed to a key reason for the BJP's defeat in the 1993 state elections.

By @psychia90 ✍️

Read more: scroll.in/article/1026629

#CommonGround | The Amar Ujala stories about the leaked Sanskrit and English question papers. While authorities denied the leaked Sanskrit paper was the one that was used, they cancelled the English exam in 24 districts.

By @psychia90 ✍️

Read more: scroll.in/article/1026629