21 September 2017: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) strongly condemned the abduction and murder of Santanu Bhowmick, Reporter of local TV News Channel ‘Dinrat’ by the activists of the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) on Wednesday at Mandai in West Tripura district.  He went there to cover the agitation and road blockade by the ITFT. They hit him on head from behind and when he fell down, he was abducted and taken to unknown place. Later he was found in serious condition and shifted to Agartala Medical College Hospital where he died.

In statement issued here on Thursday, S N Sinha, President, Amar Devulapalli, Secretary-General of the Indian Journalists Union (IJU), Sabina Inderjit, Vice-President of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), K Amarnath and Prabhat Dash members of the Press Council of India (PCI) expressed grave concern over targeting journalists by the political activists.

“There is growing intolerance among the political activists resulting in attacks on journalists when they are caught in unfavourable situations. It seems the IPFT activists were enraged when the reporter took pictures of their clash with supporters of the CPM backed GanaMuktiParishad at Chhankhola, about 40 km from Agartala. It is a direct attack on the freedom of the press. We call upon the democratic forces should resist attempts to silence the reporters,” they said.

The IJU wrote to the Press Council of India (PCI) Chairman Justice C K Prasad to take suomotu cognizance of the murder of Tripura journalist and conduct a thorough inquiry.