Journalist Shot Days After Reporting on Assam’s Eviction Drive

HornbillTV’s Dip Saikia was Reportedly Threatened by Nagaland Deputy Chief

September 6, 2025

Photo used for representation only

A journalist from Nagaland in Northeast India was shot twice during a reporting trip in the neighbouring state of Manipur. The attack came days after a senior political leader in Nagaland publicly rebuked him for airing critical views on the Assam government’s eviction drive.

Dip Saikia, a field correspondent with HornbillTV, was hit in the armpit and thigh on August 30 near Laii village in Manipur’s Senapati district, a Naga-majority area. He had been covering the Zinnia Flower Festival and was returning from the assignment when he was attacked, HBTV reported. In an update shared on September 2, the channel said Saikia underwent a successful surgery.

The incident followed a public confrontation on Aug. 23 in Liphanyan village of Nagaland’s Wokha district, where Nagaland Deputy Chief Minister Yanthungo Patton, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), spotted Saikia in the audience and addressed him by name, as reported by The Wire. In a speech recorded at the event, Patton warned the reporter not to sit in front of him, said he would not tolerate being questioned, and added that he had asked “some people” to chase Saikia away from Naga areas.

Days earlier, Saikia had reported on the Assam government’s eviction drive at the Rengma Forest Reserve, which includes areas claimed by both Assam and Nagaland. In the HornbillTV report, villagers said neither Patton nor local MLA Achumembo Kikon had visited them for nearly a month while the Assam government continued operations in the contested zone. Assam is also governed by the BJP.

According to the report, Patton had visited the area only once, on July 24, and the MLA had not come at all. The villagers said they remained concerned about the eviction, and that only on Aug. 21 and 22 did Wokha’s deputy commissioner Vineet Kumar visit them. Saikia had also interviewed M. Kikon, the former MLA from the area and a former BJP national spokesperson, who recently resigned from the party and is known locally to be close to Patton.

The Telegraph reported that Patton questioned the reporter publicly for including M. Kikon’s remarks in the story.

The shooter, identified in police records as Yambothung Ramai, was arrested and remanded to seven days of custody in Senapati. The Laii village authority council, however, named the accused as Raiveinni Ramai, a tourist from Phuba Khuman village, and said he admitted to firing the air gun, claiming he mistook a bird for a target. Investigators recovered the weapon and recorded statements from eyewitnesses and the accused’s companions. The council emphasised that Ramai was not a local resident and noted that both air guns and hunting are banned under village rules. The incident occurred about three kilometres south of the festival site, after Saikia had completed his assignment.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Saikia said the attacker used an air gun equipped with a binocular and silencer. He and his cameraman had stopped at a waiting shed when he was shot twice in quick succession. He was first taken to a local primary health center, then moved to a hospital in Chumukedima.

He was later transferred to Excelcare Hospital in Guwahati, where he underwent surgery. Doctors said he remains under observation in the intensive care unit.

HornbillTV condemned the shooting as a direct attack on press freedom and democratic values. The channel called it “shocking and reprehensible” and urged the governments of Manipur and Nagaland to ensure a fair and impartial investigation.

The Naga Journalists’ Union Manipur (NUJM) also demanded a full probe into the attack.

Saikia, a journalist from Assam, has covered events in several Northeastern states, including areas affected by armed violence and political tensions.

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