Grace Jojo 

Journalist 

Imphal, Manipur 

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on March 31, 2021, regarding restricting an independent women journalist from covering the proceedings of the state assembly. Ms. Jojo is a tribal independent journalist based out of Imphal, regularly contributing to Aja daily. 

Ms. Jojo went to the Manipur State Assembly to cover the ongoing assembly session on February 22, 2021. She was stopped by the head of security from entering the assembly and was asked to leave even after she produced a valid id card and entry pass for covering the session. She was driven out of the assembly premises by a police team despite her repeatedly identifying herself as a journalist. The public relations officer of the Manipur Legislative Assembly wrote to the Editor of the Aja Daily on February 23, 2021, that her entry into the Assembly premises was denied as a privilege motion has been initiated against her for sharing an article on her Facebook page on February 22, 2021. Ms. Jojo had not been informed regarding the privilege motion against her nor did the letter mentioned the time or date of the privilege motion.