The Press Council of India (PCI) has asked for a report from the Tripura government on the killing of a 48-year-old journalist allegedly by a constable of the Tripura State Rifle (TSR).
Sudip Datta Bhaumik, working with Bengali daily Syandan Patrika, was gunned down on Tuesday following an altercation with the TSR constable. The victim sustained an injury to the left side of his abdomen and was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The accused Nandu Riyang, allegedly shot Bhowmik at point-blank range and was later arrested.
Journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik shot dead in Tripura’s RK Nagar. More details awaited
— ANI (@ANI) November 21, 2017
A number of newspapers in the CPI(M)-ruled Tripura left their editorials blank on November 23 edition, a day after the Bhowmick’s death, in protest. Meanwhile, BJP and Congress call for two simultaneous bandhs to protest the killing.
Tripura: BJP and Congress have called for a bandh Tripura to protest killing of journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik; Many newspapers have left space for editorials blank, to voice protest. pic.twitter.com/0Scu6VnE9h
— ANI (@ANI) November 23, 2017
The killing comes just two months after Santanu Bhowmick, a local television journalist was killed in September. Santanu was killed at Mandai in West Tripura district when he went to cover an agitation by the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT).
His death occurred nearly two months after the murder of young television journalist #SantanuBhowmik at Mandwai https://t.co/gQ5ucGABcd
— The Hindu (@the_hindu) November 21, 2017
A senior journalist and his elderly mother were found murdered on September 23 at their home in Mohali. While Karan Jeet Singh, 66, was found with his throat slit and with multiple stab wounds on his body, his mother Gurcharan Kaur, 92, had been strangled. The murderers were believed to be more than one in number. This was not the first time a journalist was murdered brutally. Early in September, the publisher and editor of Gauri Lankesh Patrike, Gauri Lankesh was killed outside her home in Bengaluru late on September 5th. She was shot in the head and chest by gunmen who arrived on motorcycle. There were also protests against her killing in several Indian cities.
We found #GauriLankesh in a pool of blood, found four empty cartridges at crime scene: Bengaluru police
Read Live | https://t.co/Msevxh2qwu
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) September 5, 2017