Dimapur, Jan. 5 : The Journalists’ Forum of Assam (JFA) has expressed shock at what they called the murder of a Bihar -based journalist and the mysterious death of a Jharkhand-based scribe ‘within 24 hours.’
The forum issued a press release on Thursday condemning the cases and also calling for government action.
“The Assam based media rights body reiterated its old demand for a national action plan to safeguard the media persons and ensure justice to the media victims. Local media reports confirm that a working journalist (Brajesh Kumar Singh, 28) was shot dead at Salakhni village under Samastipur district of north Bihar on 3 January evening by some unidentified goons,” the press release stated.
“Brajesh, who received serious injuries on his head, died on the spot. Earlier on 2 January, another young journalist of Hazaribag in Jharkhand (Hari Prakash, 31) was found dead at a field near Kud village. Hari, also a law graduate, used to work for a Hindi daily and he was untraced for three days. According to his father Jitan Mahato, Hari was missing since 30 December and he never returned home.”
Mahato, in a FIR to the police, claimed that his son was abducted and murdered by Hari’s known friends, the press release stated.
“It is very surprising that Bihar has slowly turned into a killing ground for journalists. The State has lost three scribes to assailants in the last nine months,” it stated.
The JFA has urged Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to ‘come clean with adequate plans’ for security and justice to the families of the victims. It also requested the government to adequately compensate the families of murdered scribes.
