When a district magistrate beat up a journalist

When a district magistrate beat up a journalist
SAMUDRA GUPTA KASHYAP

GUWAHATI, JULY 6: An Assamese journalist was reportedly beaten up by a senior IAS officer in Sibsagar district of Assam after the reporter wrote a series of articles against his department.

Lakhi Nath Tamuli, Deputy Commissioner of Sibsagar district is said to have beaten up Parag Saikia, a rural correspondent of Aji, a newly-established Assamese daily when the latter wrote a series of stories in connection with a case of alleged misappropriation of funds from the district treasury.

On Tuesday, Saikia was allegedly picked up by the police from his residence at Demow, about 25 kms from Sibsagar town, and brought to the DC's office, where the Tamuli allegedly beat him up so badly that he had to be admitted to a nursing home for treatment.

Saikia has filed a complaint with the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the district, in which he alleged that not only was he severely assaulted by the Deputy Commissioner, but Tamuli also threatened him, saying he would be shot dead if he continued writing against him.

When contacted, Tamuli denied that charge that he had beaten up Saikia though he did admit that he had slapped him. ``That was because when I asked him why he did not take my views on the story, the journalist told me that it was not necessary,'' Tamuli said.

Meanwhile, the Sibsagar District Journalists Association, in an emergency meeting held yesterday, announced its decision to boycott all official functions and events till the government took punitive measures against the Deputy Commissioner. The association also sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Governor, Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and the Press Council relating the incident.

Reacting to the incident, Aji editor Ajit Kumar Bhuyan said that the act of the Deputy Commissioner was one of the worst incidents in the 150 year-old history of journalism in Assam. Asomiya Pratidin editor Adip Kumar Phukan said that like politicians, government officers too cannot tolerate it when the media writes about their misdeeds.

Giving political colour to the incident, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Tarun Gogoi said that it was another example of how the fourth estate as well as democracy was in peril under the AGP-led regime.

In Guwahati, the Journalists Working Committee of Assam, while registering its protest over the incident, has called for a protest meeting on Friday.