Agartala, July 18: The Assembly of Journalists, which was formed recently to protect the rights of mediapersons, has decided to intensify its demand for the suspension of superintendent of police (West) Aneesh Prasad, officer-in-charge of East Agartala police station Narayan Saha and officer-in-charge of College Tilla police outpost Jahangir Hossain.

“We held an emergency meeting last night and decided to launch a sit-in in all the districts and sub-divisional towns of the state tomorrow. In Agartala, we will organise the sit-in while in districts and subdivisional towns correspondents of local newspapers and TV channels will participate in the programme,” said Jayanta Bhattacharya, president of the Assembly of Journalists, in a media conference at the Agartala Press Club this morning.

A candlelight procession will be organised on July 23 as part of the phased agitation to demand security for reporters working in Tripura.

Several mediapersons were injured during the July 10 clash between Tripura State Rifles jawans and Congress workers around MBB College. Around 11 mediapersons, photographers of local news channels and newspapers, were injured in the police excesses.

Members of the organisation also met Governor D.Y. Patil last week, seeking his intervention in the case. The Assembly said the governor had assured the delegates that steps would be taken but no action has been taken so far.

Chief minister Manik Sarkar, in a discussion with a group of mediapersons, said the magisterial inquiry ordered by the state government would cover incidents of assault on mediapersons and at least one guilty police officer would be transferred.

So far, officer-in-charge of West Agartala police station Manindra Debnath and officer-in-charge of College Tilla outpost Jahangir Hossain have been transferred. However, SP (West) Aneesh Prasad is still in office.