Guwahati, August 16
Investigating agencies, especially police, have cut a sorry figure in nabbing the culprits involved in killing of at least 22 journalists in conflict-ridden Assam from 1991 when the first working journalist was killed by the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in broad daylight in Sivasagar district of the state.

Journalist Kamala Saikia was shot dead by suspected ULFA militants way back on August 9, 1991, his family is still moving from pillar to post seeking punishment for the culprits, some of whom are allegedly moving around freely in the society after coming over ground. Saikia was against the ULFA and termed it a 'blood sucker'.

Not only Kamala Saikia, at least 21 other journalists have been killed in the state since then by unidentified assailants and none has been arrested or punished so far. It may be a design on part of those in power to silence the Fourth Estate which operates under trying circumstances in the state, said a body of editors and members of Journalist Kamala Saikia Memorial Trust here.

The slain journalist’s son, Dhananjoy Saikia, informed that the family had filed an FIR with Sivasagar police following killing of Kamala Saikia and a case (291/91) was registered. The police, however, closed the case on September 5, 1998, stating that none could be held guilty in the murder case due to lack of evidence triggering protests from the family as well as journalists bodies in the state. The state government then handed over the case to the CID of the state police.

However, the CID too submitted the final report in February 2008 stating that no conclusion could be arrived at in the case due to lack of witness and evidence.