Kohima, Dimapur Press Clubs condemn assault
DIMAPUR, MAY 8 (MExN): The Press Clubs from Kohima and Dimapur have condemned the alleged assault on a journalist of Nagaland Page by a Government Railway Police Station (GRPS) officer in Dimapur on May 8.
The incident happened when the reporter was returning home after covering an event organised by Dimapur Red Cross. He was reportedly assaulted even after producing his Press ID card.
A press release from the Dimapur Press Club (DPC) said “time and again, over the years, journalists in Nagaland have been at the receiving end of police brutality and highhandedness.”
“On countless occasions, Nagaland police personnel have assaulted journalists in the state with impunity,” it stated.
“However, the frequency of such distasteful policing, if indeed the men/women in khaki consider assaulting civilians an act of policing, does not in any way abate the shock with which the Dimapur Press Club received the news of physical assault and communal abuse meted out to one of our members by the police in Dimapur on Friday,” the DPC said.
“Further, the reporter was asked if he’s a Muslim and told to go back to ‘his state’,” the DPC said.
It demanded that the office concerned should be given punishment “befitting of such abuse of power.”
The Kohima Press Club (KPC) also stated that media persons on duty are time and again blatantly harassed without provocation.
“We are seized with apprehension that such intimidation and high-handedness of a law enforcing officer brings to question the safety and security of journalists. Such unruly action, if not restrained, will detriment the freedom of the press,” the KPC stated.
It called upon the State Government to take steps to enable the press to discharge their duties in a free and fair manner.
