All photos courtesy @dhaneshpaniker|X
New Delhi: At least three photojournalists were injured today when the police assaulted photojournalists who were covering a public protest by the Aam Admi Party workers against the arrest of their leader and Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21, 2024.
The Working News Cameraman’s Association released photographs which showed senior police officers holding some photojournalists by their throats and threatening others with dire consequences during the AAP protest at Patel Chowk in the national capital.
Condemning this “high-handedness, the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) as well as the Press Club of India expressed their shock at the way the police roughed up photojournalists. They urged the Election Commission and the Union Home Ministry to take action against the erring police officers. The Press Club of India demanded a high-level enquiry by a retired judge into the highhandedness of Delhi police “so that the aggrieved photojournalists get justice and are able to do their professional work without facing police brutality”.
Although this is not the first time that the Delhi Police has targeted the media to prevent coverage of protests, according to DUJ, today’s events were “ominous”.
“Visuals clearly show senior Delhi Police officers intimidating the media persons and manhandling them. Photographs show a police officer grabbing India Today photographer Arun Thakur [who has been in the profession for more than two decades] by the neck, as if to throttle him. Reportedly Hindustan photographer Salman Ali suffered a fracture on his arm. Several photographers have complained that the Police targeted their cameras too,” DUJ stated. It added: “We would like to remind the Delhi Police and the Union Home Ministry that this is a democratic country and not a police raj. The journalists were doing their job of covering the protests. We demand immediate action against the erring officers.”
It asked that if this is the aggression the police now show to the media, how does it treat ordinary people? It urged the media companies to ensure that safety gear is provided to their reporters, photographers and other staff on the ground to cover protests and police actions. It also demanded proper risk insurance for journalists and their equipment.
“It is the job of reporters and photojournalists to cover political protests. As such, photojournalists who were assaulted by Delhi Police were merely doing their job. “Any form of assault on journalists and photojournalists is totally unacceptable,” the Press Club of India stated. It reminded the top brass of Delhi Police that Freedom of the Press is a fundamental right, which the Supreme Court has underlined on several occasions in most emphatic terms.
As recently as March 12, 2024, a Supreme Court bench of Justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan stated: “Now, the time has come to enlighten and educate our police machinery on the concept of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and the extent of reasonable restraint on their free speech and expression.”
The Press Club of India stated that from the behaviour of Delhi Police this morning, “it seems even the words of caution by the highest court of the land have fallen on insensitive ears”.
– global bihari bureau
