Journalists condemn Sudip Datta Bhowmik’s murder, Tripura papers protest with blank editorials
Two days after on-duty Tripura journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik was shot dead inside the Tripura Reserve Police camp, a number of newspapers in the state left blank their editorial spaces in protest against the murder.
The papers included English newspapers such as Tripura Observer and Tripura Times, and Bengali newspapers like Dainik Sambad, Syandan Patrika and Tripura Darpan.
News of Bhowmik’s death comes two months after Shantanu Bhowmik, a young Tripura journalist, was hacked to death allegedly by supporters of the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura’s (IPFT) NC Debbarma faction.
Sudip Bhowmik, 52, a reporter with Syandan Patrika, was shot dead allegedly by a constable of the 2nd Tripura State Rifles (TSR). According to reports, he was killed because of his articles on “financial irregularities and corruption cases” involving TSR Commandant Tapan Debbarma.
“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, The Indian Express stated in its report.
Debbarma is a 1998-batch officer.
The Editors Guild of India issued a press statement condemning Bhowmik’s murder and has requested the state’s chief minister to take adequate steps to protect journalists.
Politicians and journalists also took to Twitter to express their condolences and condemn Bhowmik’s murder.