GUWAHATI, July 5: A journalist was injured after being allegedly attacked by a mob while covering panchayat election-related news in Dhemaji district, police said on Saturday.
Madhurjya Saikia, who works for an Assamese news channel, was injured when he was attacked by a mob of over 25 people, armed with sticks, in Dimow Pathar on Friday, they said.
In a complaint lodged at the Silapathar police station, Saikia alleged that leaders of a local outfit were behind the attack on him.
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Based on the complaint, a case was registered and an investigation started, a police officer said.
Saikia, who was severely injured in the attack, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dibrugarh.
The Takam Mising Porin Kebang (Mising students’ union), meanwhile, rejected the allegations levelled by the journalist.
In a Facebook post, TMPK president Tilak Doley claimed that neither he nor any member of his organisation was related to the incident.
He maintained that TMPK holds the press in the highest regard.
Asked about the incident, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said it is for the police to find the guilty and arrest them.
This is the second such attack on journalists in the state within a week. Local TV journalist Bimaljyoti Nath and his colleague were attacked in Dhekiajuli on June 29.
The two journalists were assaulted when they were returning after covering news of alleged illegal mining activities.
CM Sarma said there was no unity among journalists in the state.
“If we take the Dhekiajuli incident, one section of people were attacked and another media group is protecting the attackers,” he said. “There is no unity among you all. You have become like us – BJP, Congress, AGP and UPPL. In fact, there is more unity among us,” he told reporters in Baksa. (PTI)
