As a mark of protest, Mumbai Press Club along with TV Journalist’s Association and Bombay News Photographers Association will assemble outside the Press Club at 3 pm, Wednesday, in a silent protest.
As a mark of protest, Mumbai Press Club along with TV Journalist’s Association and Bombay News Photographers Association will assemble outside the Press Club at 3 pm, Wednesday, in a silent protest.
The Press Club is also holding a public meeting to discuss what steps as a community and profession need to be taken to safeguard the independence of the third and fourth estates.
Left leaning students wing of Mumbai University had already protested last week against the arrest of of JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar.
A release by the Press Club, said, “The Mumbai Press Club is shocked and disturbed at the attack on journalists on duty at the Capital’s Patiala Court premises by Men in Black claiming to be lawyers, and some goons led by BJP Delhi MLA O.P. Sharma.”
“The brutal violence inflicted on scribes that were reporting the court proceeding related to the JNU arrests involved dragging out reporters from the courtroom and assaulting them,” it added.
“The temerity of attackers was so brazen that they equated covering the court proceedings against Kanhaiya Kumar for sedition as an “anti-national” act!,” it further said.
“What was most shocking though was the complete and nonchalant abetment of the police force at the courtrooms that allowed the journalists to be beaten before them and who thought nothing of arresting or restraining the attackers. Court premises all over the country and especially in the capital are well-guarded given the level of terrorist-related fears. The kind of scenes and violence we saw could have been easily prevented by a small group of 25 attackers who wreaked havoc,” it said.
