📷 One-man Newsroom Collage

Sharif Khiam Ahmed, Dhaka

The arrest of Mofakkerul Islam, a high-profile Muslim activist and lawyer, and Akramul Bagani, an independent journalist in West Bengal, India, has ignited a fierce debate over state repression and the systematic disenfranchisement of minority voters.

Following seven days of large-scale unrest over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), authorities have intensified their crackdown. Civil society groups allege that this controversial verification process is a pretext for stripping millions of their rights in the lead-up to the 2026 West Bengal elections.

The Anti-SIR Unity Initiative (Jadavpur) has strongly condemned the arrest of protestors, including a lawyer and a journalist, labeling it a “grave attack on civil liberties.” Speaking exclusively to One-man Newsroom, Nazrul Ahmed Zamader, an organizer of this initiative, shared critical insights into the profiles of those detained.

“Mofakkerul Islam continuously speaks for the Muslim minority through digital content. But his profile extends far beyond minority politics or activism; he is a distinguished High Court advocate and a significant digital voice for rights. The arrested Muslim journalist is also widely known for promoting communal harmony,” Zamader said on Saturday (April 4).

“A High Court lawyer and a peace-promoting journalist as ‘agitators,’ asserting that their detention is a targeted move against those documenting the struggle for minority rights,” he added.

“We will hold a press conference at the Kolkata Press Club on April 8, followed by a massive rally on April 10,” Zamader said via telephone. The rally will start from Jadavpur University and culminate at the Prince Anwar Shah crossing.

Earlier in the day, in their official statement, the organizers noted that “the unjust arrest of protesting people, a journalist, and a lawyer constitutes a grave attack on civil liberties, freedom of expression, and the right to dissent.”

They further emphasized that “criminalizing such expressions” of public anger against the “irrational and undemocratic deletion of names from the voter list” is fundamentally “unjust.”

According to Ganashakti.com, an outlet from Kolkata, Mofakkerul Islam, a former All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate for the Itahar constituency with over three million social media followers, has been a consistent voice against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC), and now SIR. Akramul Bagani operates an independent news outlet called Insaf Bangla, which also boasts nearly two million followers.

Following the incident where seven judicial officers (including three women) were surrounded for 10 hours by an angry mob on Wednesday (April 1), the situation has turned critical. Local police claim the duo was attempting to flee to Bengaluru from Bagdogra Airport.

Viral footage of court premises shows the arrested men were subjected to communal slurs by mobs, with them being labeled “Pakistani agents.”

One observer, Khokon Mondol, pointed out a significant geographical discrepancy in the police version, noting that Mofakkerul Islam was addressing a peaceful gathering in Sujapur, nearly 20 kilometers away from Mothabari, where judicial officers were reportedly stranded.

“Mofakkerul mediated between the administration and the public to pause the protests. It is a staggering irony that the man who helped disperse the crowd is the one now facing incitement charges,” Mondol wrote on Facebook.

Mondol, a civil contractor, highlighted the irony of the situation, stating that “the mediator who assisted authorities in lifting the blockade was himself taken into custody.” He further alleged that while mainstream politicians from the TMC (Trinamool Congress) and Congress (Indian National Congress) also addressed the crowd, the state has selectively targeted the independent Muslim voice.

“It has led to allegations that the state and ‘Godi Media’ are deliberately ‘confusing the geography’ to justify the targeting of independent voices,” Mondol ‍added.

The Jadavpur-based body also aimed at the communal narratives surrounding the unrest, stating, “We strongly condemn the media propaganda driven by Hindutva forces, which falsely portrays the anti-SIR movement as an Islamist conspiracy.”

They dismissed claims of “demographic threats” in border regions as “baseless, alarmist, and communal in intent,” arguing that such propaganda is a structural strategy to protect the “billionaire class” by dividing the working people along religious lines.

The initiative warned that the SIR process represents a “serious attack on universal suffrage,” specifically threatening to exclude “minorities, migrant laborers, economically distressed people, women, and transgender persons” from the democratic process.

On the other side of the divide, the state administration remains firm. The ADG of North Bengal, K. Jayaraman, stated that 19 cases have been registered and 35 people have been arrested, including Mofakkerul Islam and Akramul Bagani.

“We will not tolerate such activities and will investigate if this was a pre-planned event,” Jayaraman said, following a Supreme Court directive that has now seen the investigation handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The SIR process itself remains the core of the crisis, with nearly six million names reportedly marked as “under adjudication” across West Bengal.

As the NIA takes over the probe, international human rights observers are increasingly concerned that what began as a bureaucratic verification has transformed into a state-led campaign of “systematic disenfranchisement.”

The Anti-SIR Unity Initiative concluded its call to action by asserting that “the defense of universal suffrage, civil liberties, and social justice is not a partisan issue; it is a collective responsibility.”