In Tripura, Slain Journalist Santanu’s Last Despatch Plays on Loop

“No one could hold back their tears when his body came,” said a colleague of deceased Santanu Bhowmick.

Journalist Santanu Bhowmick was killed on Wednesday in Mandai in West Tripura district.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)

He did not survive the assignment, but before bleeding to death, Santanu Bhowmick had sent across his last despatch to office, which his channel played on loop through the day.

28-year-old Bhowmick, had joined Din Raat, a local news channel, barely three months back. The bureau chief of the channel described him as a go-getter, with a soft personal side.

Bhowmick was killed on Wednesday in Mandai in West Tripura district. While covering an agitation at Mandai, he was hit from behind and abducted. Later, he was found with serious stab injuries and was rushed to Agartala Medical College and Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

The young scribe is survived by his mother, a government clerk, who raised him along with her younger daughter all by herself, after losing her husband more than a decade ago.

"He had sent a comprehensive despatch on the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT)-led agitation to office. He was perhaps the only reporter who went ahead to report despite the IPFT cadre threatening journalists not to,” Samir Dhar, bureau chief of the channel said.

After he filed the story, we asked him to return to Agartala. He said he was on his way back. But then, there were reports of fresh violence in the area and he went back, maybe hunting for an exclusive, never to return again.

Samir Dhar, bureau chief of <i>Din Raat</i>

Journalist Debraj Deb, reporter with a local newspaper, said Bhowmick had entered the profession after graduating from a college in Agartala and had worked with two more channels before.

Over the last few months, he extensively covered the IPFT agitation, including the 11-day-long blockade of the national highway that had paralysed the land-locked state. He developed a certain degree of expertise on the party.

Debraj Deb, journalist

Dhar echoed Deb's views, saying that IPFT was Bhowmick's beat, which he covered with exemplary diligence and depth.

Also Read: Tripura Journalist’s Killing Sparks Protests in the State

People protesting against the killing of Tripura journalist Santanu Bhowmick. (Photo: AP/Tsering Topgya)

Also Read: Tripura Journalist Killed While Covering Clash Between Parties

‘No One Could Hold Back Their Tears When His Body Reached His Village’

"He was associated with the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) during his college days but had disassociated himself from politics since he started journalism. In fact, the first two channels he worked for were completely anti-left. The current one is perceived to be pro-left but that did not get reflected in his ground reports," Deb said.

Dhar said the young journalist was extremely popular among his friends and neighbours, and the overwhelming outpouring of grief when his body was taken to his village was reflective of that.

“What I saw when his body reached his village is something I have never seen before. Each and every individual, be it a 10-year-old or an elderly, was crying. No one could hold back their tears,” Dhar said, his voice choking.

Bhowmick was killed on Wednesday in Mandai in West Tripura district. While covering the agitation at Mandai, he was hit from behind and abducted.

Later, he was found with serious stab injuries and was rushed to Agartala Medical College and Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

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