Journalist groups in the North East on Wednesday condemned the killing of a reporter in Tripura a day earlier, and staged protests near Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s home in Agartala, ANI reported.
Sudip Datta Bhaumik, who worked with Bengali newspaper Syandan Patrika, was shot dead on Tuesday, allegedly by the bodyguard of a Tripura State Rifles officer. Both the bodyguard and the officer have been arrested and will be brought to court on Wednesday, IANS reported.
The Tripura Working Journalists Association, Tripura Journalists Union and the Agartala Press Club have demanded a high-level probe into the incident. The All Manipur Working Journalist Union urged the Sarkar government to ensure safety to journalists in Tripura, and staged a sit-in protest in Imphal. The Editors’ Guild of Manipur also condemned the incident, PTI reported.
The state government has handed over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department, while Governor Tathagata Roy said he would meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi on Wednesday and submit a report to him on Bhaumik’s killing.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have called for a statewide shutdown on Thursday.
This is the second death of a journalist in Tripura in two months. On September 20, journalist Shantanu Bhowmik was killed in Mandai block in Tripura. The 28-year-old died 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).
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