Guwahati molestation: TV channel editor quits

Atanu Bhuyan, the editor of the Assamese channel Newslive that first broadcast the report of a woman being molested and beaten in a Guwahati street, has resigned and will announce it later today.

“I m going to resign from newslive at 1 pm,” Bhanu tweeted this morning after Twitter was abuzz reports that the controversial editor had resigned and could make the announcement during a press conference he has organised at 1 pm at the Guwahati press club.

His resignation incidentally comes a day after the journalist who was involved in the incident, Gaurav Jyoti Neog, resigned in connection with the case. Bhuyan has been defending the channel’s conduct throughout and has said that the reporter happened to be present at the time of the incident, a claim that has been contested by others.

While resigning yesterday, the journalist involved in the incident had denied all the claims of being involved in the incident.

“There are allegations levelled against me that I orchestrated the molestation on the girl on GS Road on the night on 9 July. I strongly deny and refute the allegations as malicious and wild,” said Gaurav Jyoti Neog in a signed statement in Guwahati yesterday.

The Assam government had reportedly informed the Centre that the journalist had orchestrated the incident along with one of the main accused in the case, an actor who had initially worked with the channel.

Neog and the video journalist who filmed the incidnet are to be questioned by the police in connection with the case.

However, as Firstpost pointed out yesterday the initial report about the incident as it featured on Newslive was that the inebriated women were beaten in order to teach them a lesson.

Social activist Akhil Gogoi had also questioned the veracity of the report filed by Newslive and had alleged that  the channel had not broadcast the complete footage of the incident which showed the reporter inciting the mob to attack the girl. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had also accused the journalist of acting in an unethical manner.