Physical assault to lady journalist? All-women police station grills film director, his team member

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Jan 17: A case has been registered at the All-Women Police Station at Panbazar here against Uma Shankar Jha and his team for their alleged physical assault to a lady journalist of Guwahati on Saturday at Guwahati Press Club. A case (16/21) under section 294/352/355/34 of IPC has been registered to this effect.

Meanwhile, Uma Shankar Jha and team member Pranjal Gogoi were pulled up by the police station through a notice and grilled on Sunday.

According to the FIR lodged by the lady journalist, Uma Shakar Jha, who introduced himself as the director of a film on the Northeast – Seven Sisters One Brother – was addressing the press. He was accompanied by others associated with the film. When the media asked the Director on the theme of the movie, Jha said, "We can't reveal the story of the movie." The lady journalist also asked the Director as to what Bollywood films he had been associated with. According to the FIR, the Director said that he had been assistant director in a Rithik Roshan starrer film, besides being the assistant director in a number of other films. The lady journalist said that since the troupe is going to make a film on the Northeast, they are well versed with problems afflicting the region. To that, according to the FIR, the Director shot back a question to the lady journalist asking her "if she knew everything about the Northeast". Another man from the team asked the lady journalist "what's the Brahmaputra called in Assamese?"

When the verbal exchanges continued for a while, one of the troupe members rushed to the lady journalist and physically assaulted her, besides driving her out from the hall of the press club, the FIR said.

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