Journalist's torture: Police officer suspended in Tripura

Agartala: After an alleged incident of torture on a photojournalist inside a police lockup in Tripura, a police officer got suspended on Wednesday. The authorities are probing the incident, IANS reported.

The BJP, which is in power in the state, along with the Opposition CPI-M, Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other parties, strongly condemned the incident and demanded strict action against the perpetrator.

Also, a group of senior editors and journalists led by the Agartala Press Club President Subal Kumar Yadav and Secretary Pranab Sarkar started agitations before the East Agartala police station and the Police Headquarters demanding the same.

Sarkar said that the victim, Nitai Dey, was detained in a fake case based on false allegations. He was tortured in the East Agartala police station lockup. "Police's action was totally unacceptable. The police authority has suspended the Sub-Inspector of Police Arindam Roy. Now we would hold a meeting to decide our next course of action," Sarkar said.

CPI-M State Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury reacted to the incident by saying that the anarchism and undemocratic activities which began after the BJP led government assumed office more than four years ago are still going on. TMC said that it's the state BJP government's another attempt to strangulate democracy. BJP Spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharjee demanded a probe into the incident as well as punishment for the guilty.

Meanwhile, a senior police official informed that further actions would be taken after finishing the ongoing investigation into the incident.