A journalist of a leading Axomiya daily was Saturday shot dead by miscreants in Lower Assam's Kokrajhar district. Jagajit Saikia (35), the Kokrajhar district local correspondent of the Guwahati-based daily Amar Asom, was shot at near a pharmacy in the heart of Kokrajhar town, official sources said. The gunmen fired six rounds, they said.
Saikia was immediately rushed to the Rupnath Brahma Civil Hospital in Kokrajhar where he succumbed to his injuries. Saikia is survived by his wife and a minor child.
A search has been launched to track the assailants.
The Journalistsʼ Forum, Assam (JFA) has condemned the killing of Saikia. The forum has also demanded prompt and appropriate actions from the Assam government to book the culprits for stringent punishment. Saikia was also an officebearer of Assam Press Correspondentsʼ Union (APCU). The APCU has already condemned the killing.
The Journalistsʼ Action Committee, Assam has decided to organise a protest meet on November 25 at the Guwahati Press Club (GPC). In a statement, JAC said Assam has lost 16 journalists since 1991, all of them were targeted by miscreants and banned armed groups, according to GPC general secretary, Nava Thakuria.
Saikia is the second journalist to be killed in the Northeast this week. On November 17, unidentified men shot dead Konsam Rishikanta Singh, a trainee sub-editor of the Imphal Free Press, an English daily from Manipur.
