J Dey murder: Scribes seek swift action, ACP shifted

In its first major action two days after the killing of Mid-Day journalist J Dey, the state government has transferred assistant commissioner of police Anil Mahabole to the local arms department. It is suspected that Dey had information on the alleged underworld connections of the officer. Earlier in the day, a group of close to 100 journalists participated in a march from the Mumbai Press Club to Mantralaya on Monday to protest the killing of Dey. Wearing black masks and holding their pens aloft, the group then staged a sit-in in front of the chief minister’s office, until he promised to personally address them inside the office premises. Many of those assembled were Dey’s colleagues from Mid-Day, but journalists from other media organisations were also there in full force to show solidarity. Many of them had known Dey personally. “He was a very tall man and in terms of his character he was taller than that. He was a very dear friend and a great reporter— a walking encyclopedia on crime,” said Mritunjay Bose, a special correspondent with Sakal Times and an executive member of the Mumbai Press club. [caption id=“attachment_24819” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Journalists have demanded swift action and legal reforms post the killing of Jyotirmoy Dey. Shruti Dhapola/Firstpost”]  [/caption] Vidhyar Date, a special correspondent with The Times of India, said Dey’s murder was just the latest and most extreme in a series of assaults on journalists. “The civil society has only recently begun to wake up to this threat. In the 1970s when communist MLA Krishna Desai was brutally murdered by the Shiv Sena, the public should have woken up to the threat of communalism and gangsterism. The fact that they have kept silent all these years has allowed this situation to take place.” Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said he was shocked at the brutal murder. The government had launched an extensive police investigation to bring the killers to justice, he added.  “The protection of the media is a primary concern of his government,’’ he said. However, journalists, while welcoming Chavan’s sentiments, felt more serious long-term action was needed to be taken to protect journalists. “We have been pursuing this demand that an attack on journalists should be made a  non-bailable and a cognizable offence and it should be treated as a special case,” said Bose. “But the government  is, I feel, not comfortable with this. But it’s important that killers are not let off the hook.”