Over a tense week in March, the arrest of journalist Dilwar Hussain Mazumdar appears to have transformed Assam’s press corps into a unified front against what many describe as a deliberate assault on independent journalism in the northeastern state.
“The arrest became a rallying point,” said Prashanta Rajguru, editor-in-chief at Prag News, an Assamese television channel. “Lately, journalists have been silently enduring disrespect at press meets. But there’s a limit. Dilwar’s arrest became a rallying point for this pent-up frustration.”
It began on March 25, when Mazumdar, who works with the digital platform The CrossCurrent, was detained after covering an opposition protest outside a cooperative bank where Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is a director. He was arrested the next day on the basis of a complaint from a security guard at the bank. Before he could walk out on bail, he was rearrested in a fresh case after a complaint from the bank’s managing director. Days after his bail, Mazumdar’s brother Tayyabur, a teacher at a government school, was arrested.
CM Sarma, who had last week said that the Assam government does not recognise journalists like Mazumdar since he works for a digital portal, has now said the BJP is “born to end people like Dilwar”.
Meanwhile, Mazumdar has dismissed the need for government validation of his profession. “I am an elected general secretary of Guwahati Press Club. The recognition given by my journalist fraternity is my real identity,” he said, adding that “the way journalists stood by me proves that in Assam, we will not be intimidated by oppression”.
‘More spontaneous than organised’
Media professionals have formed human chains, staged demonstrations outside the courthouse, and maintained vigil at the police station. The Guwahati Press Club also swung into action.
On the night of March 25, while Mazumdar was detained at Pan Bazar police station, the Guwahati Press Club took to Facebook to urge the journalist community to rally for his release the next day. Journalists gathered at the press club the following morning and marched towards the CJM court where Mazumdar was scheduled to be produced that day.
At least 150 journalists, including senior editors and young reporters from legacy media outlets such as Prag News, Pratidin Time, DY365, Asomiya Pratidin as well as independent media organisations, formed a human chain and raised slogans such as “save democracy”, “down with the killers of democracy”, and “Assam police go back”. Attempts to block the march by the police were captured on camera. Later that day, Mazumdar secured bail, but due to procedural delays in paperwork, he could not walk out of prison. The police transferred him to Guwahati jail.
On March 27, when the situation appeared to have calmed down, the police quietly re-arrested Mazumdar on the basis of a fresh complaint. This prompted another wave of protests. Journalists gathered at the Pan Bazar Police Station, staging a sit-in protest while wearing black bands over their mouths.
The GPC expressed its surprise. “The Guwahati Press Club stands with all journalists. The Press Club will always speak out on any problems faced by journalists. The Press Club once again demands the unconditional and immediate release of Dilwar Hussain Mazumdar,” it wrote on Facebook. The GPC also convened an emergency executive meeting on March 28. They called on journalists to wear black badges from March 28 to March 30 as a symbol of protest and announced a meeting on March 30 to discuss “security for journalists while on duty”, intending to adopt resolutions to be sent to the concerned authorities as a memorandum.
On March 30, following Mazumdar’s eventual release, around 150 journalists gathered for the meeting with demands ranging from the enactment of a law to protect journalists to legal action against any official who insults a journalist. The meeting also decided to send these demands to the Governor, CM, and the governing party.
Sushmita Goswami, president of the GPC, said journalist safety had been a recurring concern in recent years. She pointed out that journalists had been injured in police action in the past, such as during the Congress march towards Raj Bhawan or during the bypolls amid clashes between Congress and BJP. “Now we will submit a memorandum to the highest authorities.”
Civil society members and political parties also chipped in. On March 28, the Congress staged a demonstration at the Raj Bhawan while the CPI, CPI-M, and Forward Party protested in the Guwahati Club area. Civil society figures such as Dr Hiren Gohain, Apurva Baruah, and Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury also condemned the arrest.
“The protest was more spontaneous than organised,” recalled Affrida Hussain, former deputy editor of India Today Northeast, who was present at the police station during Mazumdar’s detention on March 25. “Young journalists were especially angry.”
Senior journalist Sushanta Talukdar told Newslaundry the unprecedented show of solidarity stemmed from a collective recognition that fundamental journalistic principles were at stake. “Journalists felt compelled to defend the alternative spaces that allow genuine storytelling. The protest was against the arrest of a journalist for merely asking a question – the very foundation of balanced reporting.”
Mazumdar has been covering Assam’s politics as a chief reporter at The CrossCurrent, which has since 2023 been reporting on alleged corruption in the cooperative bank.
In December 2023, the portal reported on how a person named Rajej Bajaj, who was allegedly involved in Sharada scam, fraudulently withdrew Rs 20 crore from the bank through a transaction prohibited by RBI. The portal had also reported on alleged irregularities during Sarma’s tenure, including subsidies to a company linked to Sarma’s wife.
The demonstrations intensified on March 26 when Mazumdar was produced in court. Journalists marched from the Guwahati Press Club to the courthouse, raising slogans against his arrest. When authorities re-arrested him the following day on fresh charges, the protests swelled further, with media professionals holding vigils outside the police station.
“The way journalists stood by me proves that in Assam, we will not be intimidated by oppression,” Mazumdar told Newslaundry after his eventual release on bail on March 30.
The cases: ‘They were searching for a reason’
Mazumdar was covering a protest by the youth wing of the opposition party Assam Jatiya Parishad outside the Assam Co-operative Apex Bank on March 25. Demonstrators were demanding an investigation into alleged irregularities at the institution. Video footage shows Mazumdar approaching the bank’s MD Dambaru Saikia, who invited the journalist to his office. Shortly after leaving the premises, Mazumdar got a call from the police summoning him to Panbazar station.
“I was there to cover the protest. When I saw the MD, Dambaru Saikia, enter the bank, I approached him for a comment on the allegations because the bank has faced multiple accusations of irregularities. He then asked me to come upstairs, which is evident in the video,” said Mazumdar, adding that after being made to wait for five minutes in the office, he was called inside Saikia’s room. “The protest was already underway outside, and he was furious. He started threatening me over the stories we had done on the bank’s irregularities and demanded that I stop the protests. I told him I had no role in the protests and that my job was to give everyone a fair chance to present their version. But he kept insisting that I put an end to both the protests and our reports. When I refused, he declared he wouldn’t give me an interview. So, I left,” he said.
At the police station, Mazumdar claimed that officials kept him waiting, saying senior officials would come to speak with him. He claimed his phone was seized after he posted about his detention on Facebook.
By midnight, authorities had arrested him under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act based on a complaint filed by a security guard. When police failed to provide evidence supporting these allegations in court, Mazumdar was granted bail – only to be immediately re-arrested on a new complaint filed by Saikia claiming the journalist had attempted to steal documents.
The crackdown escalated further on April 1, when Assam Police arrested Mazumdar’s brother, Taibur Rahman Mazumdar, in their hometown of Hojai. Authorities claimed the arrest was linked to a case of land grab and breach of trust. Hours later, CM Sarma told the media that Mazumdar’s brother was involved in land brokerage.
Prag News chief editor Rajguru claimed it was clear that the case against Mazumdar was fabricated. “The viral video clearly shows that the MD himself invited Mazumdar upstairs to speak. There was no case against him for 12 hours after his detention, which means they were searching for a reason to arrest him. Eventually, they did so based on a complaint by the bank’s security guard. When he secured bail in that case, they rearrested him, now alleging that he tried to steal documents from the bank. If he had truly attempted to take files, the bank should release CCTV footage. But they haven’t, proving that the case is baseless.”
‘CM said he will finish me, but I’ll do my duty’
Chief Minister Sarma has intensified attacks on Mazumdar, first questioning his journalistic credentials and later making pointed references to his Bengali-Muslim identity. The pressure campaign escalated on April 1 when police detained Mazumdar's brother.
Mazumdar says he is “feeling threatened for my life after the CM said he will finish me. But I will do my duty.”
Senior journalists have expressed alarm at the communal undertones in Sarma’s statements. "A journalist has no religion," said Affrida Hussain. “We are here to report on issues and amplify the voices of common people.”
Arup Kalita, editor of The Cross Current, described the mounting challenges facing journalists in Assam: “You can see how the entire state machinery has been mobilised against Dilwar. It is becoming very difficult for journalists to work freely in such conditions.”
Rajguru pointed out that such communal narratives are not unique to Assam but part of a broader pattern across the country. However, he noted that only a section of the government was making such statements. “The rest are silent. I cannot take it as an endorsement by other BJP leaders,” he said.
As Mazumdar now navigates legal proceedings, the question remains whether this mobilisation can transform into sustained resistance against what journalists perceive as growing pressure on independent journalism.
Nitumani Saikia, the editor-in-chief of Pratidin Time, one of Assam’s leading news channels, emphasised that the churn within the media fraternity in the state is the result of a prolonged silence.
“There is a limit to everything. Journalists have remained silent for far too long. Recently, we have witnessed instances where journalists who questioned the chief minister or major political figures faced threats of consequences. In the past, such incidents sparked some outrage on social media and other platforms. However, the scale of outrage seen in the latest incident is much larger, as people are now beginning to ask how long they can remain silent... It is not wrong for journalists to protest against wrongdoings by the government. What they have done comes from a genuine desire to bring about positive change. Because this situation cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely.”
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