Mr Sapan Dasgupta, the editor, publisher and owner of BANGLA PEOPLES MARCHA magazine had been arrested by Kolkata Police on Tuesday, the 6th October, 2009. The charge of being a Maoist has been slapped on him. The magazine is having a proper, legal and valid registration number(VB.ben/2004/15681) and it is being published regularly once in a month for the last 5 years. The arrest of Mr Sapan Dasgupta is a blatant violation of the rights of freedom of expression, thoughts and listening to other voices. The state government of West Bengal in recent times has been indiscriminately and brazenly using the Maoist ploy to suppress all the voices of opposition. We can hear the footfalls of Emergency of 1975 in these acts of the state. We strongly condemn the attempt of the Government to deny its citizen the democratic rights. We demand immediate release of Mr Sapan Dasgupta and Sadananda Sinha, the owner of the printing press and urge the Government to dissuade from all acts of suppression and oppression against the magazines and press as a whole.

Conveners
Little Magazine Somonnoy Mancha