Assam: Journalist beaten up for reporting on gambling activities, case registered
The assailants tied the journalist, Milan Mahanta, to a lamppost and also snatched a gold chain from him.
A journalist was on Sunday allegedly beaten up by miscreants after he reported about gambling activities in Assam, reported The Sentinel.
Three people – identified as Biswajit Das, Budu Thakuria and Sanjay Thakuria – attacked the journalist, Milan Mahanta, with sharp weapons in broad daylight at Moniyeri Tiniali area under the Palasbari Police Station in Mirza town, according to a first information report.
The assailants tied Mahanta, who reports for two vernacular dailies of Guwahati, to a lamppost and also snatched a gold chain from him. Locals rescued Mahanta after the attackers tried to move him to another spot.
A case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Various organisations, including the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti of Assam, have condemned the incident and demanded a fair inquiry, according to Time8.
On November 12, another journalist, Parag Bhuyan, died in Assam’s Tinsukia district after he was hit by a car near his home in Kakopathar. Bhuyan’s colleagues, however, alleged that he was murdered. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had ordered an investigation into the incident.
Bhuyan worked as a senior reporter for the Pratidin Time group and was also the local reporter for an Assamese daily Axomiya Khabar. Pratidin Time Editor-in-Chief Nitumoni Saikia said that Bhuyan was targeted because he had exposed corruption and illegal activities in the Kakopathar area through his reportage. He added that the police’s delayed response intensified his suspicions.