New Delhi, Sep 21 (TIWN): The National Union of Journalists (India) and its Tripura state affiliate strongly condemned the brutal murder of young journalist, Santanu Bhowmik (28), in Tripura. The NUJ(I) demanded strict action against culprit.

According to information, young journalist of a local cable TV, ‘Din Rat’ was today brutally killed by the miscreants at Mandai where he gone to cover the news of the political clash between two political parties, CPIM and IPFT.  Santanu, when he was covering the incident, was forced to be engaged in a scuffle with IPFT cadres and was allegedly chopped off allegedly by the IPFT cadres.

NUJ(I) President Ras Bihari condemned the killing of the young journalist and said termed it as failure of the administration to grant protection to the mediapersons. The NUJ(I) reiterated its demand for a Journalists Protection Act to ensure safety and end impunity for attacks on journalists. NUJ(I) Secretary General Ratan Dixit: “We demand adequate compensation to the murdered journalist and appeal to the state authorities to ensure that such incidents should not occur in future. In addition, we also demand immediate arrest of the culprits.

Prasanta Chakraborty, Tripura State General Secretary of the NUI(I) unit said the killing is the most brutal act on the part of any political group in the state. “Such a brutal act is an attempt to stall the movement of the journalists and fearless coverage of anti-national and anti-people activities. We strongly criticize this barbaric act and demand the state government to nab the culprits at the earliest. We also demand to look into the security of the mediapersons, while covering different events in the state. If no action was taken the NUJ(I) will take up the matter to the union government,” added Chakraborty.