HT Digital
GUWAHATI, Mar 26: Tensions escalated at the Guwahati Press Club as journalists staged a protest against the arrest of senior journalist Dilwar Hussain Mazumdar. He was detained after questioning Assam Cooperative Apex Bank’s Managing Director, Dambaru Saikia, during a demonstration against alleged financial corruption.
The arrest has ignited widespread outrage, with journalists and press bodies condemning it as an attack on press freedom.
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Mazumdar was taken into custody late on March 25 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s Sections 351(2)/3(1)(r) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015. These charges appeared unrelated to the corruption allegations he was investigating against the Apex Bank’s MD. The circumstances of his arrest have raised serious concerns about the suppression of journalistic inquiry and the misuse of legal provisions.
The controversy began when Mazumdar was covering a protest led by Assam Jatiya Yuva Shakti, a group opposing financial irregularities at the bank. While reporting, he confronted Saikia with tough questions regarding the alleged corruption. Saikia then invited Mazumdar inside the bank, but once inside, the journalist claimed he was intimidated, and his phone was forcibly wiped of all recorded footage. Reports also emerged that other journalists present at the protest faced similar pressure to delete their recordings.
Following the incident, Mazumdar went to the Panbazar police station to file a complaint against Saikia. However, instead of being allowed to register his FIR, he was detained for hours. Later that night, at around 11:30 PM, he was arrested on allegations of making an offensive remark against a Scheduled Tribe individual—an accusation he has strongly denied. His family, unaware of his whereabouts, was reportedly denied access to him, and his wife’s attempts to deliver necessary medication for his diabetes were blocked.
As news of the arrest spread, journalists gathered outside Panbazar police station, demanding Mazumdar’s release. Prominent media figures joined the protest, calling the arrest an attack on press freedom. The protest intensified at the Guwahati Press Club, where journalists clashed with the police, accusing them of misusing legal provisions to silence independent voices.
