Attacks on journalists: Arunachal Pradesh media on strike

Media organisations in Arunachal Pradesh today went on an indefinite strike in protest against the state government's failure to arrest those who had assaulted two women journalists last week.

The women, working with The Sentinel Arunachal, were assaulted by some unidentified persons on December 12 when they were gathering news of an accident, according to police.

Under the aegis of Arunachal Press Club (APC) and Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), the entire press fraternity has served an ultimatum of 48 hours to the government to arrest the culprits.

On Thursday, scribes had staged dharna in front of the district magistrate's office and the police station at Naharlagun.

The media houses had also blacked out the front pages of all the newspapers for three consecutive days and have sought public support in the form of donations to fight a legal battle in the case.

"We have decided to ban all government releases and boycott functions for complete one month from the day when the indefinite strike will be called off," APC president Jarpum Gamlin said.

Further, during the period of ban on government releases and functions, the media will ignore the advertisement tariff fixed by the government and would accept ads only at their terms and rates.