Bhubaneswar: In yet another attempt to throttle the voice of media, a journalist was attacked by miscreants near Astaranga in Puri district yesterday. According to reports, Chandan Paikaray, journalist of an electronic media was reportedly attacked when he had gone to cover election news.
It is alleged that the miscreants attacked Paikaray for covering some news against the local MLA. Following the incident, Paikaray lodged a complaint at Astaranga Police station. Carrying out investigation, the cops subsequently arrested one accused involved in the brutal assault on the journalist.
It is not for the first time that working journalists have been attacked in Odisha. Earlier, a journalist sustained grievous injuries after being attacked by ‘unidentified’ miscreants near Beleswarpatna area of Puri in February. The victim, identified as Bikram Acharya, was reportedly attacked when he had gone to the spot to report an accident.
On January 26, a scribe was allegedly thrashed by a group of youths inside a cinema hall in Bhubaneswar. The victim, identified as Kapilendra Pradhan, was attacked for opposing a group of students who were passing lewd comments on women.
On January 30, OTV journalist was attacked during coverage of a protest by students of Gada Sri Maa government high school in Paradip. Later, Paradip Lock police arrested one Biswanath Behera in connection with the attack.
Similarly, OTV journalists were also misbehaved with by Commissioner-cum-secretary of Sports and Youth Services department, Vishal Dev in his chamber during Hockey Men's World Cup and also denied entry into Naveen Niwas in a deliberate attempt to muzzle the voice of media by the ruling party in the past.