Journalist shot dead: Newspapers in Tripura leave edit column blank in protest
In protest against the murder of Tripura’s senior journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik, a number of newspapers in Tripura chose to leave the space for editorials blank in their Thursday edition. The Tripura Observer and Tripura Times; Bengali newspapers like Dainik Sambad, Syandan Patrika and Tripura Darpan, were among the newspapers who protested. The Editor of Tripura Times, Manas Paul, said, “As far as institutional protest is concerned, we have left our editorials page blank for today’s edition of our newspaper. Murder of two journalists within 2 months is a matter of serious concern.” A bandh in the state was called by the BJP and the Youth Congress on Thursday to protest. Bhowmik (52) a senior reporter working with the Syandan Patrika, was shot allegedly by a constable of the 2nd Tripura State Rifles (TSR). His editor claimed he was killed because of his series of reports on “financial irregularities and corruption cases” involving TSR Commandant Tapan Debbarma. According to the police, Bhowmik had also reported on Debbarma’s “extramarital affair”. “He was called by Tapan Debbarma, the 2nd TSR Commandant, and murdered in cold blood. Sudip’s only crime was that he had exposed a number of financial irregularities and corruption cases in which Debbarma was involved,” alleged the editor and owner of Syandan Patrika, Subal Kumar Dey. -PTC News
