Mamata Banerjee,
Chief Minister,
West Bengal
Dear Madam,
We are a group of women journalists from states across India.
We have noted with concern that on Monday, April 23, which was the last day of nomination
for the forthcoming Panchayat elections, two women journalists were assaulted by political
miscreants while on duty.
Prajna Saha, who works for a television news channel, was slapped, verbally abused and
forcibly confined in a room for a long stretch of time in Alipore, Kolkata.
Suchandra De, a reporter with a daily newspaper, was physically assaulted and threatened
in Katwa, Purba Bardhaman.
We are shocked and saddened note that at least 12 journalists in the state were assaulted
on April 23. Two journalists have sustained serious head injuries. Cameras and mobile
phones of journalists were seized and tampered with by political miscreants.
We note with concern that despite their presence at the scene in many cases, the police
have not protected the journalists. No arrests have been made in most of these cases.
Political violence and the practice of preventing journalists from performing their duties seem
to have reached alarming proportions in West Bengal.
We urge you to ensure that journalists are not threatened and assaulted while doing their
duty. Abuse of women journalists, especially, sends out a dangerous signal about the state
of our democracy. It needs to be stopped immediately,
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
Jyoti Malhotra (Delhi),
Swati Bhattacharjee (Kolkata)
Nivedita Jha (Patna)
Teresa Rehman (Guwahati),
Aafrin Haque (Kolkata)
Anita Katyal (Delhi)
Anuradha Bhasin (Srinagar)
Bachi Karkaria (Mumbai)
Bharti Jainani (Kolkata)
Chandrima Bhattacharya (Kolkata)
Kasturi Ray (Bhubaneswar)
Lakshmi Sharma (Gangarampur)
Mannika Chopra (Delhi)
Maya Mirchandani (Delhi)
Monideepa Banerjee (Kolkata)
Muslim Jon Fazili (Mumbai)
Neena Gopal (Delhi)
Nilova Roy Chowdhury (Delhi)
Nirupama Subramanian (Chandigarh)
Pamela Philipose (Delhi)
Radhika Ramaseshan (Delhi)
Ramya Kannan (Chennai)
Rashmi Saksena (Delhi)
Sarada Lahangir (Bhubaneswar)
Saroj Nagi (Delhi)
Shabana Javed (Kolkata)
Shuma Raha (Delhi)
Suhasini Haidar (Delhi)
Shruti Ganapatye (Mumbai)
Shikha Mukherjee (Kolkata)
Sahana Nag Chowdhury (Kolkata)
Sumita Jaiswal (Patna)
Uma Sudhir (Hyderabad)
South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) India
SAWM India, C 66 Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, New Delhi 110048
Phone: 91-9836576677, 91-9810076936