17 October 2019: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) condemned the Police attack on journalists in Srinagar when they went to cover the gun-battle between the security forces and the militants in Fateh Kadan area on Wednesday. According to the information available so far, about 20 journalists from the print and electronic media were injured in the incident and many of them were hospitalised in Srinagar. According the eye witness accounts of the journalists present, the police swooped on them when they started taking pictures of the site of the gun-fight and thrashed the photographers and the reporters in the presence of senior officers of the security forces.
It also condemned the Sanatan Sanstha for labelling two journalists of India Today in Mumbai as terrorists for exposing their nefarious activities. The Sanstha put up pictures of two India Today journalists on their website www.sanatan.orgrn and www.hindujagruti.org declaring them as “terrorists” and asking people to inform the police if they are sighted anywhere.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) President S N Sinha, Secretary-General Amar Devulapalli said the thrashing of photographers and reporters who were discharging their professional duties in Srinagar was direct attack on the freedom of the press and unacceptable. They called on the state administration led by the Governor to take stringent action against the police personnel involved in the incident immediately. The statement pointed out that the journalists in Jammu and Kashmir were working under severe stress and it was the duty of the state to protect them in the interest of democracy.
The IJU statement said the Sanatan Sanstha’s bullying tactics deserved all-round condemnation as this was not only an attack on the journalists doing their job but on the people’s right to information and freedom of the press. The right wing organisation’s intimidating tactics follows India Today’s special investigation team having carried out an investigation regarding the Sanstha, an organisation whose members have been accused in three cases of bomb blasts, four murders of rationalists and a recent case under UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), where huge cache of arms, ammunitions and explosives were recovered.
They regretted that despite media organisations drawing Maharashtra Chief Minister’s attention to the website and masked threats being issued on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter against the reporters, no action has been taken by him or the Mumbai police. The IJU expresses solidarity with the two journalists and demands from the Maharashtra government that this violent aggression by the Sanatan Sanstha is stopped forthwith, without any further delay.
