GUWAHATI: A journalist, Chakrapani Parashar from a regional news TV channel in the city, was attacked with knives and seriously injured in a restaurant in Ganeshguri on Thursday, March 21. He was stabbed by some workers at the restaurant, according to police reports.
On Thursday afternoon, ie March 21, Parashar along with his crew had gone to the restaurant, Alber Eats, to cover a fight between the main accused, Sayed Ali Ahmed, the owner of the restaurant and some young men playing Holi who had come to put colour on Ahmed. However, the latter got angry and shooed them away by taking out his dagger, according to Aparup Barua, operations deputy manager at the news channel.
It should be noted that the restaurant is in the same building as the news channel where Parashar works.
The footage also showed that Ahmed and his crew closed the shutter of their restaurant and set fire to it with an LPG cylinder to escape arrest. Allegedly, there were still other customers inside the restaurant when the fire was set. Following this, there was massive chaos in the area and people could be seen running away from the scene and panicking.
The police then showed up at the spot of contention and with the help of the public, managed to open the shutter and put out the fire.
“As soon as we got to know about the incident, we reached the spot. The way they had lit the fire using the LPG cylinder was very dangerous for everyone in the area. With the help of the public, we were able to break down and reopen the shutter to stop the fire and arrest the accused,” said Himangshu Das, ACP Dispur.
Parashar sustained serious injuries in various parts of his body and was rushed to GNRC Hospital where he was admitted to the ICU after being given first aid and a CT scan. The doctor stated that he is currently out of danger and in stable condition. However, it would take a long time for Parashar to recover fully, according to police reports.
Four people, Bhabesh Das, Nitin Sarma, Niraj Ahmed and Sayed Ali Ahmed were detained by the police in connection with the attack the same evening on March 21.
The four were produced at the Kamrup Metropolitan District Court on Friday, March 22 where the court declined the bail request for the accused for attacking the journalist. They have been sent to judicial custody and the court has ordered that the accused be produced again for hearing on April 4.
It should be mentioned that the accused, Ahmed, has a criminal record and has been arrested earlier too. He is originally from Bihar and has come to Guwahati to do business.
It has also been alleged that the owner of the building, Ashok Singhal, MLA from Dhekiajuli, has given permission to many people to open and run their businesses in the building without checking any proper legal documentation. Ahmed’s restaurant business was also one of these unchecked professions where this horrific incident took place.
Various organisations including the EMFA condemn the attack
Many organisations such as the Electronic Media Forum Assam (EMFA) have expressed serious concern over the brutal attack on the city-based television journalist, Chakrapani Parashar and they have demanded stringent action against the culprits. The forum has also urged the state government in Dispur to ensure security to media persons by enacting a special protection law at the earliest.
The EMFA has noted that many more incidents of physical abuse on journalists are being reported from various localities in India. They have further asked the union government in New Delhi to take the matter seriously and have appealed to all media persons across the country to be united over the issue of safety and security of media persons.
Various political parties, national and regional, and journalists’ organisations have condemned this attack on Parashar.