A journalist was killed on Wednesday in Mandai block in Tripura during clashes between members of the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura and Tripura Rajaer Upajati Ganamukti Parishad, the tribal wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), reported IANS. Four IPFT members have been arrested after Shantanu Bhowmik, 28, was killed during the melee, said Deputy Inspector General of Police Arindam Nath.
Tension started brewing after workers from the two parties had assembled in Mandai despite prohibitory orders under Section 144. “The police resorted to lathicharge and dispersed the mob in Mandai as they assembled there violating the prohibitory orders,” an unidentified police officer said.
IPFT workers attacked the TRUGP activists with sticks and iron rods and injured at least 118 of them, Khowai Superintendent of Police Nagendra Debbarma told the Northeast Times. Forty eight injured TRUGP activists had been admitted to hospital, of which six are in critical condition.
The incident comes days after gunmen shot down senior journalist Gauri Lankesh in her Bengaluru home on September 5. Nationwide protests had erupted condemning her murder and calling on authorities to catch and punish the perpetrators. Lankesh was a vocal critic of right-wing Hindutva forces and she had received several death threats during her career.
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