Protest in Silchar over Hailakandi scribe assault; memo submitted to CM Sonowal

A group of media persons, on Tuesday, submitted a memorandum to Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal demanding protection for journalists and stern action against a police official Rajesh Suklabaidya for assaulting a private news channel’s correspondent in Hailakandi recently.

Rajesh Das, correspondent with a private news channel, was beaten up by a police constable Rajesh Suklabaidya over a past revenge. The incident has triggered fury from the media fraternity of Barak Valley.

On Tuesday, media persons including Bikram Sarkar (Northeast Live), Abhijit Bhattacharjee (Prag News), Samin Sen Deka (Pratidin Time), Uttam Saha (Anandabazar) and Subrata Das (Ishan Bangla) among others staged a demonstration in front of Cachar deputy commissioner’s office in Silchar and chanted slogans in unison demanding stringent action against the police constable.

Thereafter, they submitted a memorandum to Sonowal and demanded that the police constable Rajesh Suklabaidya be terminated from his job. The media persons also stressed that the government should take necessary measures to ensure safety of journalists, who work amidst myriad risks and difficulties.

Biswajit Dutta (Dainik Samayik Prasanga), Sakul Islam Mazumder (Dainik Jugasankha), Ravi Kumar Shukla (Sudarshan TV), Jakir Hussain (News Live) and Aniruddh Laskar (News 18) were also present.