DARJEELING: In the month of June a rather dubious news was published in all major local and regional newspapers in Darjeeling Hills. "Cheat arrested in Siliguri" read a news published in a prominent English daily. Similar headlines also flashed in local vernacular dailies as Himalaya Darpan, Janpath etc. The news implicated a ‘middle aged’ man of 35 years to have forged a press identity card. Tufan Subba, the accused was arrested and subsequently implicated under IPC 420. While the news was true at the face value a simple investigation would have proved that there was certainly much more to it.
After the fews days of his arrest and subsequent interim bail, Tuffan Subba contacted this reporter and offered documents supporting his credentials as a reporter of a news organisation known as Police Samachar Service. The documents which ranged from scanned copies of deed agreements, website print outs, identity cards, bumper stickers and such were elaborate. An investigation by this author however, proved that Police Samachar Service was a fake organisation, the findings of which being already published in Beacon Online. A further investigation led to the realization that Police Samachar Service had raised subscriptions from around 500 plus individuals in and around India offering them identity cards, bumper stickers. These 500 plus subscribers should have realised that the organisation was fake when no remuneration was offered but they went on since Police Samachar Service’s made them believe that they were ‘in training’.
Tufan Subba now faces a dilemma. A new case under IPC section 420 has been initiated against him. It is true that he had violated the law by not wearing a helmet while he was riding a scooter in Siliguri. He also violated the law by sporting a ‘press sticker’ on his vehicle and when asked to produce credentials he had none except his identity card which itself seemed dubious. The fact remains, he simply did not know that the organisation to which he was associated with as a reporter was a fake. He only came to know that Police Samachar Service was a fake organisation after this reporter investigated the organisation and published his findings on Beacon Online. So much so that while he was arrested under suspicion, the Police officers who apprehended him, in fact, arrested him for faking Police Samachar Services’ Identity Card and Sticker, the organisation which they themselves thought was genuine. And since the word ‘Police’ was attached to the fake news agency, there seemingly was no desire on the part of the Police to realize that Tuffan Subba himself could have been a victim and not a fraud. This reporter has been contacted by numerous ‘reporters’ associated with ‘Police Samachar Service’ after they read the findings at Beacon Online. Almost eighty per cent of them thought they were genuine reporters working for a genuine news agency until realizing later that they had been cheated.
Now that Tufan Subba has been implicated under IPC section 420 of which he is seemingly innocent. The police needs to re-investigate the case again and book the real culprit in this case ‘Police Samachar Service’. Tufan Subba did violate the traffic rules by not wearing a helmet and he must be fined and suitably indicted but he simply cannot be implicated under IPC 420 because instead of he forging a fake identity card and Press stickers of Police Samachar Service, the Police Samachar Service itself is a fake organisation and all identity card and the bumper stickers were supplied by them. Tufan, even days after his arrest and subsequent interim bail thought that he was working for a genuine national news agency. When he was caught driving a scooter without a helmet, he was essentially sporting a press sticker on his vehicle and an identity card in his pocket as all scribes do. To him his credentials were genuine and the organisation he worked for was genuine.
The people who are operating Police Samachar Service are duping innocent youngsters who wants to build a career in journalism. Youngsters are made to send in a form with a registration fee and once the form and the fee are received, the applicant is offered an identity card and ‘Press’ stickers. Tufan’s case is an example for all youngsters not trust any agency which instantly offers a job of any kind. Verification of all credentials are very important.
Police Samachar Service has been proven to be a fake organisation, yet, it still operates and dupes youths all over the nation. If people operating such fake fronts as Police Samachar Service are not brought before the Law, youngsters like Tufan Subba could spend the most important years of their life behind bars for no fault of his own…their only fault being their desire to become a journalist and to have trusted an organistation who so nonchalantly sports the name ‘Police Samachar Service’ [Police News Service].