Parag Kumar Das ( Assamese পৰাগ কুমাৰ দাস) was the former editor of

Asomiya Pratidin ''Asomiya Pratidin'' ( as, অসমীয়া প্ৰতিদিন) is an Assamese daily newspaper, caters whole Assam with five editions published from Guwahati, Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh, and North Lakhimpur, Assam, India. The fifth editi ...

, a radical journalist, human right activist and one of the founders of human rights movement in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. Parag Kumar Das was also the founder leader of

Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS) ( Assamese মানৱ অধিকাৰ সংগ্ৰাম সমিতি) is a regional non-profit human rights NGO in Assam. It was founded in 1991 by Parag Kumar Das along with a group of intellectua ...

(MASS). Prior to that Parag Kumar Das was the manager of Guwahati Stock Exchange. Parag Kumar Das was assassinated by

SULFA Sulfonamide is a functional group (a part of a molecule) that is the basis of several groups of drugs, which are called sulphonamides, sulfa drugs or sulpha drugs. The original antibacterial sulfonamides are synthetic (nonantibiotic) antimi ...

in 1996. Das had his education in St. Stephen's College and

Delhi School of Economics Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as "D School", is a Higher Educational Institution within the University of Delhi. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establ ...

, Delhi.

Early life

Parag Kumar Das was born in

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...

on 24 February 1961. He did his lower primary, primary and high schooling from Chenikuthi Boys School, M.C.M.E. School and Cotton Collegiate Government H.S. School respectively. In 1977, he got the 4th position in

HSLC A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

examination. He also got 4th position in the

Pre-university According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), basic education comprises the two stages primary education and secondary education, lower secondary education. Universal basic education Basic education featured heavi ...

examination from

Cotton College Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities fro ...

in Science stream. Then he moved to Delhi for higher education. He took admission in St. Stephen's College for his graduation in Economics. After that he joined the

at the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

for a master's degree. In 1984, he joined as a manager in

Punjab National Bank Punjab National Bank (abbreviated as PNB) is an Indian public sector bank headquartered in Delhi. The bank was founded in May 1894 and is the second largest government-owned bank in India, both in terms of its business volumes and its network ...

. After that he was appointed as general manager in

Unit Trust A unit trust is a form of collective investment constituted under a trust deed. A unit trust pools investors' money into a single fund, which is managed by a fund manager. Unit trusts offer access to a wide range of investments, and depending on ...

and Guwahati Stock Exchange. In 1995 he quit from his job and joined as an editor in the Assamese daily

. He married Purabi Das and they have two children.

Journalism life

Parag Kumar Das started his journalism in

Prantik ''Prantik'' is a multi-topic Assamese language magazine published fortnightly from Guwahati since 1981. It plays a vital role in the socio-political lives of the people of Assam, India. The founding chief editor of the magazine was Bhabendran ...

and The Sentinel (an English daily published from Guwahati, Assam) in the late 80s. Later in, 1989, Das launched ''Boodhbar'' (English: Wednesday), an Assamese weekly. In 1994, he launched another Assamese magazine ''Agaan''(English: Steps). Both ''Boodhbar'' and ''Agaan'' were stopped following his arrests. Finally, in 1995, he joined as the Executive Editor of

, quitting his job from the Stock Exchange of Guwahati.

Books

Assassination

In the afternoon of 17 May 1996, while taking back his young son from school in Chandmari, Guwahati, Das was assassinated in broad daylight by four

members - Mridul Phukan alias Samar Kakati, Diganta Baruah, Tapan Dutta alias Biswajit Saikia and Nayan Das alias Guli. His open murder created huge outrage in the entire state of Assam and the human rights circles of the country.

International Condemnation on Assassination

Several international human rights forums and journalist forums condemned the brutal killing of Parag Kumar Das.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, on its note, stated, "...The killing of Parag Das highlights the suppression of human rights activity within Assam, where human rights violations and abuses have been committed with virtual impunity by both security forces and armed opposition groups."

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

stated, "...death of Assamese activist Parag Das in May exposed the security forces, use of irregular militias to carry out abuses..".

Trial & Judgement Controversy

In 2001, CBI filed its chargesheet in Kamrup District and Sessions Court against the four accused - all members of the surrendered group of

ULFA The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) (Assamese: সংযুক্ত মুক্তি বাহিনী, অসম) is an armed separatist organisation operating in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. It seeks to establish an indep ...

. Before the CBI filed its chargesheet, Diganta Baruah and Tapan Dutta were killed in 1998 and 1999, and in 2003 Nayan Das was hacked to death by a furious mob in

Dibrugarh Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam in ...

. Promod Gogoi and Prabin Sarma, two other suspects were not charge-sheeted for lack of evidence against them. Mridul Phukan is the only surviving accused in the case. But after thirteen years, on 28 July 2009, Justice Dilip Kumar Mahanta, District and Sessions Judge, Kamrup, has acquitted the prime accused citing lack of solid evidence. The acquittal of Mridul Phukan, the lone survivor of the accused in Parag Kumar Das killing, sparked criticism of judgement and investigation done by the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...

. Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, the then editor of

, of which late Das was executive editor, said, "The judgment ( by the Kamrup Metro District and Sessions Court) has exposed the hollowness of our inquiry and law system".

MASS reactions

According to human rights activists, the key witnesses were not interviewed, some were intimidated, related materials were tempered to ensure the acquittal of the accused and cover up the state machinery's role in the case. Three of the accused were expired. The human rights activist, media, friends and family members of Das, all call it as a betrayal of the CBI and the Court. MASS leader Lachit Bordoloi, expressing his disappointment with the verdict, said that the

MASS Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

would approach higher courts and continue the fight for justice to the slain activist.

Parag Kumar Das Memorial Trust

The Parag Kumar Das Memorial Trust was formed after his death by the family members and the well wishers. The trust has been organizing an annual debate competition at the state level since 1997. In 2021, the silver jubilee edition of the debate will be organized and from 2022 onward annual memorial lectures will replace the debate competition. A documentary on Late Das sponsored by the trust was also released on 24 February 2018 on the occasion of his Birthday and is available in YouTube.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Parag Kumar 1996 deaths Journalists from Assam Assassinated Indian journalists Indian male journalists Indian newspaper editors People murdered in India Indian murder victims Indian human rights activists St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni Delhi School of Economics alumni Writers from Guwahati 1961 births 20th-century Indian journalists Activists from Assam 1996 murders in India