Press Club Solidarity Meet: Journalists Narrate Harassment During Oct 10 Jantar Mantar Protest
New Delhi: Veteran and budding journalists, including photojournalists, YouTubers from various news agencies and freelancers, especially those who were allegedly harassed by police personnel during the October 10 agitation at Jantar Mantar and various locations in the national capital, participated in a solidarity meeting at the Press Club of India on Monday.
The meeting was convened by Press Club of India President Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty to register protest against targeted attacks on media persons covering the demonstrations.
Several veteran journalists and those who were allegedly harassed during the agitation narrated their experiences of how Delhi Police personnel misbehaved with them, bundled them into buses after illegally detaining them and did not allow them to perform their professional duties.
Speakers said several videos are already going viral on social media showing women journalists being dragged mercilessly, heckled, pushed and forcibly bundled into buses for no fault of theirs.
Among those who spoke out was 71-year-old veteran journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who said he was pushed and detained. Young journalists, both female and male, from Newslaundry, The Quint, The Wire, BBC, Red Mike and several other digital platforms were forthcoming in vociferously raising their voice of dissent.
According to the speakers a woman journalist named Rosy alleged that she was sexually assaulted by a police officer while covering the protest, and had to run from pillar to post to get her FIR registered, but of no avail.
Journalists said they felt extremely undignified and harassed in the line of duty and that never in their career had they faced such ugly treatment from police personnel and officers as on October 10 while peacefully covering the agitation.
Senior journalists Sreenivasan Jain, Satish Jacob, Rajdeep Sardesai, Suhasini Haider, and Siddharth Varadarajan, Editor of The Wire, Ajit Anjum, renowned journalist also spoke strongly condemning the police behaviour, saying that it was not the police but their political masters who were responsible for instructing them to act against the fourth estate.
After the conclusion of the meeting, a peaceful protest march was organised outside the Press Club precincts to register their anger and annoyance over the treatment meted out to journalists.
The meeting also saw a debate on the mandatory PIB card and the divide between legacy and digital media, with speakers saying the government had succeeded in creating cracks within the media fraternity at a time when solidarity was most needed.
SUNIL NEGI, EDITOR, UKNATIONEWS
