The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has written to Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal expressing serious concern over the growing incidents of attacks on journalists of the state and sought intervention over the attack on journalists.
In the letter to chief minister Sonowal, the EGI seeks steps to ensure safety of the journalists.
"While we appreciate your firm condemnation of these incidents, the situation demands your urgent intervention to assure the media that they are safe to report without fearing retribution from the criminal mafia.
"In the absence of that, a sense of impunity could embolden the attackers who may believe that they are above the law," said the letter signed by EGI president Seema Mustafa, general secretary Sanjay Kapoor and Treasurer Anant Nath.
The two-page letter said also stated that the manner in which Milan Mahanta , who writes for Asomiya Pratidin and Dainik Asom, was recently tied to a pole by five criminals and beaten mercilessly, is a testament of the difficult environment in which the journalists work in Assam.
A video of the assault has gone viral on social media.
Mahanta, who has named the assailants, claimed that he was beaten up for his reportage against the gambling and land mafias in Kamrup district.
Another incident took place at Kakopathar when a journalist of Pratidin Time has been attacked to death.
His employers have alleged that Bhuyan was murdered as he had been receiving threats for exposing corruption and illegal activities of a criminal nexus in the Kakopathar area.
"However, most of the cases have not been resolved with allegations of shoddy investigations. In many cases, the culprits are roaming free, intimidating the families of the slain journalists.
"We hope you will urge the state police to take necessary steps for rebuilding confidence in the media, so that they can operate without fear," the EGI said in its letter.
