Guwahati molestation: Electronic media forum demands high level enquiry

Guwahati: The electronic media in Assam on Sunday demanded a high level probe into the allegations by RTI activist Akhil Gogoi against a local news channel scribe of instigating the molestation of a girl by anti-social elements in the city causing public outcry."We urge Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who also holds charge of the home department, to initiate a collective analysis of all the footage of the incident and initiate a high level probe into the allegations after necessary forensic tests," president of Electronic Media Forum Assam (EMFA) Nava Thakuria said.

Thakuria said visuals presented by Gogoi, also a Team Anna member, was not enough to substantiate all claims made against the concerned journalist as being the instigator of the incident. "The visuals shown by the activist was not supported by the raw footage of the incident. It was edited in the DVD format, where there is a possibility of doctoring", he said.The forensic test must include the raw footage of the incident, DVD given to Senior Superintendent of Police Apurba Jiban Barua by the channel and the DVD handed over to EMFA by the activist, he said.

The raw footage is still in Gogoi's possession as claimed by him in yesterday's press meet, he added.Thakuria, however, agreed that the journalist should have called the police first from the spot and then asked his office to send the camera persons."The EMFA maintains that journalists must always act as law abiding citizens of the country...We are sure the law of the land will take its own course in this case as well," he said.Meanwhile, the journalist of the channel against whom the allegations were made has resigned in the 'interest of investigations'. Sources in the channel quoting the scribe said he will take legal steps against Gogoi for the 'baseless allegations' against him.