A journalist from Nagaland-based Hornbill TV was shot and injured while covering a cultural event in Laii village of Manipur’s Senapati district on Saturday evening.
The victim, Dip Saikia, was reporting on a flower festival when he was attacked. He sustained bullet wounds in the armpit and leg and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital. Villagers managed to apprehend the assailant, identified as a youth, while police registered a first information report (FIR) at the nearest station.
Condemning the incident, Hornbill TV editor Dzuthono Mekro described the attack as an assault not only on an individual journalist but also on press freedom and democratic values. “Such violence against media professionals cannot and must not be tolerated in a society that values justice, transparency, and accountability,” she said, calling for a thorough and impartial probe.
Mekro urged both the Nagaland and Manipur governments, along with law enforcement agencies, to ensure swift action against the attacker and any accomplices. She stressed that those responsible must be brought to justice to send a strong message that crimes against journalists will not go unpunished.
The incident comes just days after Nagaland’s Deputy Chief Minister Yanthungo Patton, who holds the Home portfolio, publicly berated Saikia at an event for asking a critical question about eviction drives in Assam, raising concerns over increasing hostility toward journalists in the region.
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