City scribes protest in front of press club

Guwahati : A number of city-based scribes demonstrated their angers
against the abusers of a lady reporter recently in the press club
auditorium and demanded stern actions against the culprits. Organized
by the Journalist Union of Assam, affiliated to IJU, the protest
demonstration on 19 January 2021 drew the attention and supports from
hundreds of media personnel.

Mentionable is that the reporter, associated with a popular Assamese
daily newspaper, was verbally and physically abused by the press meet
convenors namely film producer Umashankar Jha and his associate
Pranjal Gogoi on Saturday and she has already lodged an FIR at
Panbazar all women police station in the city.

Various media organizations including the Journalists’ Forum Assam
(JFA) expressed serious concerns over the unprecedented incident and
demanded exemplary punishments to the abusers. JFA president Rupam
Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria urged all sensitive and responsible
members of the press club to stand united against the offense.

They also asked the press club authority, which also released a
condemnation statement earlier identifying the victim lady but
cleverly avoiding the names of accused individuals, to fully cooperate
with the investigating police personnel. The forum also appealed to
the State police chief Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta to take personal
interests in punishing the culprits at the earliest.