Senior Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate an enquiry into allegations of misuse of Assam Police in arresting a journalist, who was covering a protest against alleged financial irregularities in a state-run bank.
Journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder was arrested by the Guwahati Police on Tuesday midnight and again on Thursday morning in connection with two cases filed by a bank employee and its managing director, respectively. He has got bail in both cases.
Meanwhile Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma countered that Police has not arrested any journalist and the concerned person is running a portal and not from legacy media. Information Minister Pijush Hazarika countered that Dilwar Hussain is a practicing Advocate and also having many business were hiding behind his portal to intimidate people.
“Will you kindly reveal if Diwar Hussain is a practicing advocate or a journalist or also a businessman? Apart from practicing law he has a business interests from textile to transport. Was he hiding behind a portal to intimidate people or expand his business? Request you to do due diligence,” said Minister Hazarika in X post, replying to the protests of Press Club. Hazarika also posted photos Dilwar Hussain’s transport, textile business units and court practicing photos.
Mozumdar, who is also the assistant general secretary of Gauhati Press Club, was first arrested in connection with a case filed by a bank employee, who had alleged that the scribe had made casteist remarks.
He was granted bail in the case on Wednesday but was arrested again immediately upon release the next day in a second case filed by the managing director of the bank, Dambaru Saikia, for allegedly attempting to steal valuable bank documents. “The misuse of police powers in the arbitrary arrest of journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder must be investigated to ensure accountability. It is also imperative to safeguard press freedom and prevent the wrongful targeting of journalists reporting on matters of public interest,” Gogoi said in the letter to the Prime Minister.
Gogoi also sought an independent probe into the alleged financial scam at the Assam Co-operative Apex Bank (ACAB), in which Chief Minister Sarma is one of the directors and BJP MLA Biswajit Phukan is the chairman.
