AMN
A journalist working with a local cable-TV channel, Din-Raat, was killed in Agartala on Wednesday afternoon. Police said, the 26 year old journalist Shantanu Bhowmik sustained serious injuries in attacks with chopper by miscreants at Mandwai under Jirania subdivision in West Tripura district. He had been taken to the Agartala Govt Medical College & Hospital but succumbed to his injuries by then.
Police said, the miscreants attacked the journalist when he was covering a road blockade agitation called by IPFT ( Indigenous People’s Front of Twipra). They said that during the agitation, several persons including one TSR jawan and a Forest Guard sustained injuries in attacks by the miscreants.
Meanwhile the Foundation of Media Professionals has condemned the daylight murder of Din Raat channel reporter Shantanu Bhowmik, 28, in Tripura on Wednesday. According to various news reports from the state, Bhowmik was killed while reporting from Mandai in the state where a mob of Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura supporters had gathered.
This group had clashed with cadres of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s tribal wing, the Ganamukti Parishad.
Northeast India has long been a zone of impunity where various militant groups have threatened, attacked, and often killed journalists trying to do their jobs. Even political parties and security forces are known to intimidate journalists in the many conflict zones that dot the region.
We call upon all groups to ensure safety of mediapersons going about their jobs.