GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said police reports suggested Dilwar Hussain Mozumder, the arrested chief reporter of digital news portal The CrossCurrent, had abused a man belonging to a Scheduled Tribe (ST) community and demanded a huge loan from the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank in Guwahati.
During a media interaction, CM Sarma said Mozumder was a businessman who worked part-time for the portal, which is owned by a politician. He also insisted that the arrest had nothing to do with Mozumder’s professional work.
“According to the police report, he badly treated a man from an ST community. The second report is that he demanded a huge amount as a loan from the bank for his business,” Sarma said.
“The person I know owns four or five dumpers and has various other businesses. We don’t know if his arrest was business-related or for other reasons,” he added, stating that the tribal man’s statement had been recorded in court on Thursday.
Mozumder was granted bail on Wednesday, but Sarma said multiple cases had been registered against him, and the police would arrest him in each of them. “None of the cases is connected to journalism,” he reiterated.
Protests erupted in Guwahati following Mozumder’s arrest while he was covering a demonstration staged by Jatiya Yuva Shakti, the youth wing of the Assam Jatiya Parishad, against alleged financial irregularities in the bank.
The Press Club of India stated, “When the bank’s managing director, Dambaru Saikia, arrived at the scene, Mozumder approached him for a news byte and asked if he could stop to reply to his questions.
Saikia could be heard on camera asking him to come to his office upstairs instead, which Mozumder did. However, on coming out of the bank, he received a call from the Pan Bazar police station, asking him to report. On arrival, he was detained.”
Sarma also clarified that the state government had not yet recognised digital portal workers as journalists.
“We don’t give them registration, advertisements, or ID cards. So, this person does not come under the definition of a journalist as far as the state government is concerned. We consider only those who work in electronic and print media as journalists,” he said.
“Our discussion is ongoing with journalists on whether we should recognise those who work in portals as journalists. If they seek registration, we are ready, but they have not come forward,” he added.