Life threatening attack on journalists, protest demonstration held in front of Silchar SP office

Dec. 1: India, the largest democracy in the world, is highly regarded as vibrant, safeguarded by the most credible institutions like the Election Commission, an independent judiciary and the media. Media in fact is supposed to be the most important watchdog of democracy and its freedom the biggest critical indicator of the quality of a democracy. However, ironically, scribes have now become the most vulnerable section of the society. Off and on, journalists are attacked by miscreants who go scot-free due to the lackadaisical attitude of the custodians of law.

Two such recent incidents which took place in Cachar district has indeed raised several questions on the safety and security of the journalists working over here. On Saturday, an accident took place at Kalain in which two persons lost their lives. But when the journalists went to collect news of the incident, some miscreants attacked them. As a result, 3 newsmen of Katigorah Working Journalist Guild- Imad Uddin Majumder, Supriyo Dutta and Rafiq Ahmed Choudhury were attacked. However, when the culprits were not booked even after 36 hours of this heinous incident, then the Katigorah Working Journalist Guild along with some other organisations sat for dharna at Katigorah Police Station on Monday and declared that until the culprits are nabbed, they would continue with their agitation. However, on the assurance of nabbing the miscreants within another 24 hours by MLA Amarchand Jain, the dharna was temporarily suspended.

Another journalist Himu Laskar was also given life threatening allegedly by tipper drivers in a separate incident in Silchar. A police complaint was also registered in this connection. However, in both the cases, police failed to act. In order to get justice, finally Silchar Press Club and Barak Valley e-media Association held a protest demonstration on Tuesday. Around 100 journalists marched from Silchar Press Club with banners demanding justice and sat for dharna near the main gate of the Office of Police Superintendent, Silchar, Cachar.

During the protest demonstration, Shankar Dey, Secretary of Silchar Press Club severely criticized the role of police in delivering justice. He said, “One after another incidents of physical assault of scribes are taking place. We are even given open threats by people with vested interests but the police seems to sit idle. We would be compelled to launch a more vigorous agitation, if the culprits are not booked at the earliest.” Other journalists who spoke during the protest demonstration are Subir Dutta, Debashish Shome, Abhijit Bhattacharjeee, Rahul Deb, Anirudhha Laskar, Bikash Chakraborty, Manjur Ahmed, Suman Das. Apart from them, Tamojit Bhattacharjee, Riten Bhattacharjee, Bhaskar Shome, Gulshan Ahmed and many others also took part in the dharna.

After around 2 hours of the protest demonstration, Additional Superintendent of Police, Jagadish Das reached the spot and interacted with the agitating journalists. He assured them that the police will take appropriate steps and the guilty will soon be nabbed. It was then that the protest demonstration was temporarily suspended.

Also read: MLA Amarchand Jain asks protesting journalists to give 24 hours more time to nab the culprits