Three journalists were attacked by persons allegedly close to the State Finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai when they went to report a police lathi-charge and firing on villagers of Baligotha, Gobaghat and other villages on March 30.
The journalists, Amulya Kumar Pati of the New Indian Express, Manas Jena and Sujit Mullick who worked for Oriya newspapers, were assaulted in the presence of the police. At least twenty people, including the BJP Orissa state president, Jual Oram, were also attacked.
The villagers were opposing the construction of a common corridor in the area but were prevented from lodging a protest by supporters of industrialists and Ghadai, also the local legislator. Several villagers who were badly injured and had sustained bullet injuries were too frightened to seek medical help and this was what the journalists went to cover when they were attacked.
In a statement, the Media Unity for Freedom of Press ( MUFP) has condemned the increasing attack on the media by the police, anti-socials and the corporate-Government nexus and said that the state Chief Minister and his Government �have so far not taken any action against the erring officials, politicians and the corporate goons who are threatening the media freedom in very many ways�.