Tongam Rina Shooting: One Year On
By Laxmi Murthy
“354 days have passed. The culprits involved in the July 15 attack on The Arunachal Times associate editor Tongam Rina are still at large.”
These stark words belie the atmosphere of threat and intimidation that journalists in the North East operate in. At a recent meeting in Shillong “Journalists Safety: Increasing Safety, Ending Impunity” organised by the South Asia Media Solidarity Network launched by the International Federation of Journalists, Taba Ajum, Tongam’s colleague at Arunachal Times spoke about the daily threats and attempts to muzzle the press.
Tongam Rina, 32, associate editor of the Arunachal Times, Itanagar, was no stranger to controversy. Her reporting about militant activity in the state, corruption in the bureaucracy, land and forest mafia, was outspoken and bold. Tongam’s opposition to more than 150 dam projects, as expressed through her writing and activism, earned her enemies in the pro-dam lobby. She had even been offered money to stop writing against dams and refused vehemently and continued her courageous writing in her column ‘Ringside View’.
But if bribery could not stop her, then perhaps violence would? In April, her office was ransacked, and for months, she and her colleagues received death threats. As president of the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists, she brought the matter to the notice of the authorities, but little was done. On July 15, 2012, she was accosted just outside her office and shot in the stomach by unidentified men. She was grievously injured and one of the bullets grazed her spine, and it was thought that she would never walk again. However, her fighting spirit and good cheer have seen her through. Coming out of anaesthesia after one of the many surgeries she has had to undergo, Tongam reportedly asked for a glass of beer, reassuring her friends and well-wishers that she was determined not to allow even a murderous attack to subdue her. Currently, she on a year’s assignment in Germany at the invitation of the Hamburg Foundation, where she is also undergoing medical treatment.
In protest against the shooting, The Arunachal Times in a never-before move, suspended publication on June 17. Since then, the paper and its website carries a daily reminder of the number of days since Tongam Rina was shot, and highlights the fact that her assailants are yet to be brought to justice. The police investigation has dragged on, and in February 2013, after the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists and the Arunachal Press Club demanded a ‘white paper’ on the status of the inquiry, the police upped the reward for information about the attack from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
Only July 10, the police charge-sheeted three accused in the shooting case, while one of the accused, who conspired to kill Tongam Rina, has been declared a proclaimed offender. This is despite the fact that the CRPF and ITBP were also enlisted in the man-hunt. Significantly, the accused, Yumlang Achung was also involved in the attack on the Arunachal Times office in April 2012, but was still. Unless the blatant impunity of those who attack journalists ends, genuine press freedom will continue to be at risk.
On July 12, Tongam Rina was honoured with the Leipzeg-based Media Foundation’s “Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media” 2013. She shares the award with Jörg Armbruster and Martin Durm from Germany and Brigitte Alfter and Ides Debruyne from Denmark and Belgium. “All three of them are committed to an independent journalism even under a very strong personal commitment – Rina in her home country India, Armbruster and Durm as German correspondents in Syria. The everyday life of this year’s laureates reflects the whole spectrum of mechanisms threatening the freedom and future of the media,” said Stephan Seeger, managing director of the Media Foundation, explaining the motives of the jury for this year’s choice. Tongam Rina indeed embodies the brave face of the future of media.
