Coming as a shock to the media fraternity of the city, Ratan lal, photojournalist of English daily The Pioneer, was brutally beaten by a group of drunken miscreants on Thursday evening. The incident took place near Chutia police station when lal and his wife were returning to their residence in the Chutia locality.
On the occasion of Holi, Ratan and his wife, Abha Shrivastav, were returning home after visiting some relatives when they were stopped by a group of drunken youths from Chutia locality only, as the victim photojournalist and his wife later identified. As they started passing lewd comments the couple raised its voice against this.
Ratan tried to pacify the group, but they were offended by this instead. They attacked him and in the mean time called others from nearby who joined the assailants.
“They even threatened to kill me during the attack. Some of them were holding me down and some even tried to strangulate me. Whenever I tried to get away from their hold they again overpowered me. They specifically targeted my head as if they wanted to kill me. They did not even spared my wife. They hit her also,” stated lal, who is under treatment at Nagarmal Modi Seva Sadan (Hospital) in Ranchi.
Ratan sustained severe head injuries and his wife was injured too. Abha was discharged after immediate medical attention but Ratan was kept under medical observation. “The attackers were from the locality only so we were able to identify many of them. We have lodged FIR against them in Chutia police station but the culprits are absconding since search for them has begun,” added Ratan.
Four of the attackers were identified by the couple and named FIR has been filed against them and unnamed FIR against 12 others.