Incident of 2012 :

The incident is a frightening echo of the attempted assassination of Tongam Rina, a senior reporter from the same district of Dada ( reporter ), who was shot for her reporting. Although the incident occurred in 2012, with no perpetrators prosecuted  justice has still not been delivered. There are fears that the complacency of the legal system has encouraged perpetrators to silence reporters with any means possible.

Recent incident :

Hufe Dada, a reporter from a local media outlet namely Gyoloo News, had been investigating the excessively high pollution levels produced by local factory namely SMS Smelters Ltd in Lekhi village, Arunachal Pradesh, India, when he was attacked unprovoked by four unidentified men. The factory has continually produced substantial amounts of smoke, visible to those from surrounding villages. Despite explaining to the men that he was covering an issue that affected all members of the community, Hufe Dada was threatened with further consequences and had his phone stolen. He immediately filed a complaint with local police station Nirjuli.

The police have so far arrested one suspected assailant, (in Dada matter) Nangram Tapu, a security officer for SMS Smelters and have informed the media that they are also investigating the matter, legality of the factory.

H K Sethi, Secretary General of Journalist Association of India ( JAI ) said: “now a days Attempts to intimidate the media is growing and the government must ensure the safety of all journalists or media persons. He further said the police should expedite the investigations and take all necessary steps to ensure that decisive action will be taken against the culprits.”

Journalists Federation of India protesting and said that “This attack on journalist namely Dada proves the urgent need for better protection for journalists in India and more accountability within the criminal justice system. JFI implores authorities, State Govt. & Union Govt. of India, to strengthen the criminal justice process to ensure that journalists do not have live in fear for their reporting.”

For further information contact JFI
+91 9899462353, +91 8588885353

The Journalists federation of India represents more than 7,000 journalists