Media fraternity condemns acts of vandalism, assault against daily

EOI, Siliguri, 30 May 2014: The media fraternity of Sikkim and Darjeeling district along with various human rights bodies have strongly condemned the attack on the driver of Nepali daily ‘Samay Dainik’ early Friday morning by some truck drivers of Sikkim .
The Bolero Plus vehicle owned by the daily was vandalised and the driver, Bigendra Lama, severely assaulted by about seven staff members of the truck association. Lama said he was lucky enough to flee from the spot as the culprits were bent on killing him.
Rambi police station OC Mingma Lepcha said three persons have been arrested in connection with the case. He listed them as Krishna Gurung, driver of a truck bearing registration number SK-01D-0303; Damber Rai, driver of truck number SK-04D-0576; while the third person’s name was not revealed.
According to Lama, the incident took place around 3:30am near 27th Mile on NH 31 A under Rambi police station when he was on his routine duty of transporting the day’s edition from Gangtok to Darjeeling and Siliguri. When he arrived at the 27th Mile area, Lama found two trucks blocking the road and he stopped to enquire what the matter was.
The truck drivers and their helpers told him he would have to wait for an hour as one of the vehicles had broken down and the load it was carrying was being shifted to the other truck.
“I waited for an hour but the shifting work did not end,” said Lama. “When I requested them to allow me to pass through as the newspaper bundles had to be delivered in time, about six or seven of the men started abusing me. They then roughed me up accusing me of bullying over them in the name of the media and vandalised my vehicle. I somehow managed to flee from the spot.”
Lama was taken to Rambi hospital with multiple injuries on his face, legs and hands.
Siliguri Journalists’ Club president Pramod Giri, Darjeeling Press Club president Vivek Chhetri, Kalimpong Press Club secretary Rudra Karki, Mirik Press Club secretary Binod Parsai and Human Rights Protection Association convener and press secretary Purnakala Thapa have strongly condemned the attack on Lama. They have demanded an attempt to murder case be slapped against the culprits.