The Press Association, a leading body of journalists, on Saturday strongly condemned the “attack and unnecessary harassment” of journalists during coverage of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. In a statement, the Association said, it was also concerned over incidents of burning of media OB vans during the protests and appealed to all sections to realise the need for a free and fair press and the importance of media during incidents of national importance.
The Association said the attack on journalists on their line of duty in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, and Punjab is an assault on media freedom. It urged authorities concerned to ensure full security to the media in the discharge of their duties as the Fourth Estate.
The statement, issued by Association president Jaishankar Gupta and general secretary CK Nayak, said it has taken a serious note of the detention of Omar Rashid, a journalist of The Hindu in Lucknow, detention of seven scribes in Mangalore and attack on a reporter and a video journalist of Mathrubhumi News, Arun Shankar and Vaisakh, in Delhi when they were doing their duties.
ANI Reporter Ujjwal Roy and Cameraperson Sarabjeet Singh were assaulted while covering protests near Jamia Milia Islamia, it said.
Earlier, two journalists, Dinesh R and Wasim Sayeed of Asianet News, a prominent Malayalam news channel, were also attacked in the national capital during the coverage of the protests by Jamia Milia Islamia students against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Wasim was seriously injured during stone-pelting and had to be admitted to a hospital, the Association said.
Also, an attempt was made to allegedly manhandle a video journalist of Zee News, Jaideep, camera of a news channel was damaged while another’s was taken but not returned as yet, it said, adding journalists were attacked in Sambhal and media OB vans were torched in Lucknow too.
In a separate incident, armed men shot dead electronic media journalists, Jobanpreet Singh, and Gurchet Singh, working for a vernacular daily in Moga in Punjab. The Association is anguished over such incidents and demands a speedy investigation to deter perpetrators of such crimes, the statement said.