Unakoti district journalists demand arrest of MLAs Ram Prasad Paul and Ranjit Debbarma, submit deputation to SP

Journalists of Unakoti district on Thursday staged a protest demanding the arrest of MLAs Ram Prasad Paul and Ranjit Debbarma. Raising slogans on the streets, members of the ‘Unakoti District Media Forum’ organized a protest and submitted a deputation to the Director General of Police(DGP) through the district’s Superintendent of Police.

Journalists from Kailashahar and Kumarghat gathered in front of the office of Unakoti District SP and staged a protest rally under the banner of the Unakoti District Media Forum. Carrying placards demanding the arrest of the two accused MLAs, they marched into the SP’s office premises and handed over the deputation letter to SP Sudhambika R.

Several senior journalists and members of the forum, including Mohammad Jamal Uddin, Debashish Dutta, Ayan Majumdar, Priyotosh Das, Ajeer Miah, Abdul Sufan, Bikash Kapali, Arjun Malakar, Sujata Saha, Lilabati Sinha, Nazmul Hossain, Hossain Ahmed, Nahim Uddin, Uttam Sinha, Ashutosh Das, Digbijoy Malakar, Ashutosh Paul, Abdul Shamim, Abdul Rahim and Zakir Hossain, among others, were present during the deputation.

After their deputation, speaking with local media persons, journalist Debashish Dutta alleged that MLAs Ram Prasad Paul and Ranjit Debbarma had recently been spreading defamatory and abusive content on social media against two senior editors and veteran journalists, Sanit Debroy and Pranab Sarkar. He said the use of abusive language and the alleged smear campaign against the two journalists were unacceptable to the Unakoti District Media Forum.

Dutta further claimed that despite written complaints filed by the two senior journalists, the police initially refused to register the cases. Although the case filed by Sanit Debroy was later registered following pressure from the journalist community, the complaint lodged by Pranab Sarkar has yet to be registered. He also alleged that the police have neither interrogated nor arrested the two accused MLAs so far.

Expressing strong resentment over the police’s role, members of the forum demanded immediate registration of Pranab Sarkar’s complaint and the arrest of the two MLAs, followed by appropriate legal steps. They warned that if the police fail to take action within the next 15 days, the Unakoti District Media Forum will launch a larger and district-wise agitation in coordination with journalists across the state.

Meanwhile, journalist Jamal Uddin stated that journalists from various organizations across Unakoti district had united under the banner of the forum to submit the deputation and urged the SP to forward their memorandum to the DGP at the earliest.