Ex-Assam IAS Officer Hitesh Dev Sarma Booked for Threatening Journalist Over Protest Coverage

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A retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Hitesh Dev Sarma, has been booked for allegedly threatening a journalist over a news report covering a protest involving his son, a police officer. The incident occurred on Thursday when Sarma, who previously served as the state coordinator of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, called the journalist, Rana Deka, to express his disagreement with the report. The report, which aired on a Guwahati-based news channel NKTV, showed police personnel, including Sarma's son, Geetartha Dev Sarma, taking aggressive action against protesters outside the Baksa district jail on October 15. Deka claimed that Sarma accused them of using morphed videos to malign his son's image and proceeded to make death threats, stating that Deka and his 8-year-old son could be hit by a speeding vehicle. The police have registered an FIR against Sarma under sections 351(2), 352, and 296 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, citing allegations of criminal intimidation, intentional insult, and obscene acts. Deka has submitted an audio recording of their conversation to the police as evidence. Bajali police have asked the journalist to record his statement, and a notice will soon be issued to Sarma to do the same. The incident has sparked concerns over the safety of journalists in the region.