“It was completely not provoked and we demand an unconditional apology from Assam Police officials,” said the managing editor, Pranay Bordoloi
Guwahati: On Thursday a video has emerged that allegedly shows Assam police and the personnel pushing into the Guwahati office of Prag News, a private TV news channel, and beating up its staffers.
“It was completely not provoked and we demand an unconditional apology from Assam Police officials,” said the managing editor, Pranay Bordoloi.
Assam Police and personnel entered the Prag News campus in the Ulubari locality and beat up some staffers sitting outside the building, shown in the video. Then after entering the reception area of the building, police attacked other staffers, Bordoloi said.
Before the incident took place, about 45 minutes, the police had dispersed protestors in the locality, asking them to move inside, Bordoloi said. But there was no reason for them to enter our office, Bordoloi added.
“It is very sad that Police officials entered Prag News office premises and attacked one of our employees inside the campus during working hours. The officials even entered the reception area of the office,” said the Prag News Instagram account along with the video.
The news has come after, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a notice to news channels not to broadcast “anti-national attitudes” or anything that could “encourage or stir up violence or anything against maintenance of law and order.”
The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has expressed “grave concern over the banning internet in the state of Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura by the state governments following the protest over CAB”, and condemned the attack on journalists of Prag News channel in Guwahati by Police.
An indeterminate curfew has been imposed in Guwahati and the Indian Army and Assam Police have been deployed in various parts of the North East region to maintain peace since protests erupted across the states over the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019.
Mobile and broadband internet have been shut down for more than 48 hours, with more restrictions are expected. 3 people have reportedly been killed in clashes and police firings in Assam so far.
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