Berhampur: Orissa Chief Minister
Naveen Patnaik's visit to Ganjam was today boycotted
by journalists in protest against alleged inaction of the
police in bringing to book the culprits responsible for the
attack on scribes at the medical college here.
Scribes boycotted Patnaik's visit to Chhatrapur,
Humma, Hinjili and Sheragada and staged a sit-in for about
three hours near Mahatma Gandhi statute at Gandhi Nagar here.
The decision to boycott the official visit of the
chief minister was taken following alleged inaction of police
to arrest the medical students involved in attacking media
persons at MKCG Medical College and Hospital here on Monday.
"The journalists are unsafe in this regime as the
fourth estate was attacked in several places in the state," a
senior journalist said.
The latest incident took place at the medical college here,
when several media and camera persons were allegedly beaten up
by medical students while reporting a clash between the
relatives of a dead patient and the medicos, sources said.
Several journalists staged dharna with black badges
and decided to continue their agitation till the arrest of the
attackers. Several organisations and the opposition political
parties, including the Congress, extended their support to the
cause of the journalists.
The mediapersons also demanded transfer of the SP
(Berhampur) for alleged inaction in arresting the culprits.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, June 03, 2010, 20:42