Journalists protest editor’s killing in Guwahati
GUWAHATI: Journalists in Guwahatii came out to protest the murder of the executive editor of a regional daily, Aji Majumdar on Friday.
Maumdar was killed by unidentified person just outside his home on the night of March 25.
This is the third murder of a journalist in the Northeast between 2008 and 2009.
Photojournalist P P Singh said, “These are calculated murders and unfortunately the media called a 4th estate is being treated like a 4th grade estate. There’s no security of job, no security of life. It is like an unorganised labour sector.”
Anil Mazumdar, is the 22nd journalist in Assam to have been assassinated since 1991. In 1991, the United Liberation Front of Assam killed teacher-journalist Kamala Saikia for criticising its ideology.
This killing is not just restricted to Assam, in Manipur the situation is worse. A 22-year-old sub-editor was killed last year.
Bureau Chief, Indian Express Samudra Gupta Kashyap said, “Militants put pressure to publish their exact statements. If they do not, people are under pressure, threatened and killed. Offices are set on fire, ransacked.”
Meanwhile, the Assam police has released a sketch of a suspected killer. The case has been handed over to the CBI and as the journalists carry on with their protests in Guwahati, what also remains unanswered is what is going to happen to the family of the journalist killed.
Source: IBN Live