Press Club of India strongly condemns attack on Rishikesh journalist and demand an immediate and swift probe in the matter enabling immediate arrest of the culprits.
The Press Club of India , a most important body of the journalists in Delhi with a membership of more than seven thousand working and retired journalists has in strongest terms condemned the attack on a journalist of Rishikesh Yogesh Dimri and his friends by the liquor mafia and its goons and demanded a speedy investigation and swift trial in the matter by the Uttarakhand police so that the guilty are brought to justice. In a condemnation message on the PCI handle X , the largest body of the active journalists in Delhi has said : The Press Club of India strongly condemns the brutal attack on senior journalist, Yogesh Dimri in Uttarakhand’s #Rishikesh allegedly by liquor mafia. We demand speedy investigation and swift trial in the matter from the @uttarakhandcops so that guilty are brought to justice. The PCI catagorically said that the muzzling of the media is a direct threat to the very purpose of view brant democracy adding further that if is disturbing to note that journalists have been subjected to the violent attacks across the country while discharging their duties. Expressing its serious concern on the increasing violence on journalists discharging their duties the PCI said that intimidating and physically attacking journalists have become a deliberate strategy in the country these days. It may be recalled that a few days ago Yogesh Dimri and editor of a news portal Aanwla in Rishikesh who have been constantly publishing the stories against the liquor mafia of Rishikesh exposing their illegal deeds and smuggling activities etc. was brutally attacked and thrashed by baseball bats injuring him grievously on head and his jaw literally damaged including injury on the right leg having been fully plastered. His few colleagues were also injured in the melee. After the tremendous media pressure and messages appearing in social media , the police came into action mode and met the injured at AIIMS and asked to submit a written complaint after which the police arrested one of the culprits namely Sunil Ganje. Hundreds of activists of National Regional party of Uttarakhand led by its chief Shiv Prasad Semwal protested in Dehradun and demanded stringent action against the culprits.
The national organising secretary of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and journalist Ashutosh Negi and Semwal met the injured journalist in hospital including the Congress leader Ganesh Godiyal and BJP leader and MP Haridwar Trivendra Singh Rawat condemning the incident in strongest possible terms demanding stringent action against the culprits.
The chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in order to divert the attention of the people from the core issue passed instructions for raids on 100 liquor shops of all the districts mentioning that he has complaints about over pricing and supply and illegally smuggling the liquor in the interiors of Uttarakhand illegally.
