National television network India Today has faced flak for featuring photograph of late journalist Parag Kr Das as that of ULFA (I) military chief Paresh Baruah in a programme on January 1.
The English language satellite channel with its headquarters at Noida in a programme, ‘Citizenship Debate’, flashed late journalist Das’ photo as that of ULFA (I) c-in-c Baruah.
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The programme was aired in the channel following the publication of the first draft of NRC in Assam.
“It’s an insult to the late journalist. The channel should do necessary homework before airing a programme,” said Abhijit Das, a student of Cotton University.
Das was the founder executive editor of Asomiya Pratidin, an Assamese daily published from Guwahati, a radical journalist and a human rights activist. He was assassinated by surrendered ULFA rebels in 1996.
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This is not the first time that the national media has used photograph of journalist Das as that of ULFA (I) chief Baruah, in 2014 the web version of the India Today and some other media outlets in a news carried his photograph in place of rebel leader Baruah.
The news was related to a Bangladesh’s court’s conviction of Baruah in a ten-year-old case of arms haul in Chittagong.
India Today.in later had apologised for the mistake.
Expressing strong resentment over the incident, Pallab Kr Das, brother of late journalist Das had said, “Parag Kumar Das is literally murdered again today by the National level media, after 18 years of his brutal killing in the street of Guwahati city on broad day light. It is very much unfortunate that his photograph is published with a news item where the news of announcement of death sentence to the ULFA C-in-C Paresh Barua by a Bangladesh court is published with prime importance.
“We the family members have great resentments on it and we condemn their effort to malignant his social image,” he had said.