Assam CM says online news portal workers not recognised as journalists
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday reiterated that individuals working for online news portals are not officially recognized as journalists under state government rules. His statement followed the arrest of a Guwahati-based journalist, Dilwar Hussain Mozumder, who was detained under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
A Guwahati court granted Mozumder bail on Wednesday, but he was arrested again in another case the next day. The Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court (Kamrup) confirmed that multiple cases were registered against him.
Sarma, in a statement on X, clarified, “It has come to my notice that some media houses have reported the arrest of a journalist by Assam Police. I would like to clarify that Assam Police has not arrested any journalist in recent times.” He emphasized that the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) does not recognize individuals from online news portals as journalists.
“He works for a portal, and we do not recognize people working for portals as journalists. In Assam, no individual employed by a portal is recognized as a journalist. I believe he is just an individual, and there are speculations that he is a businessman. He owns dumpers and operates as a part-time journalist for a portal. The portal in question is a politician-promoted,” Sarma said.
The journalist had gone to the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank (ACAB) to cover a protest regarding alleged irregularities in recruitment. A video shared on social media showed him questioning the bank’s managing director, Dambaru Saikia, who refused to respond.
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Saikia later told the media, “Mozumder entered the office forcibly. One of the security guards said that he
