It was a high-profile day for the media. With the former Minister G. Janardhan Reddy, who has been under arrest for his alleged involvement in the mining scam, scheduled to visit the special CBI court here, mediapersons descended on the City Civil court complex early Friday.
However, the story of this high profile inquiry became the subtext as there was a scuffle between the media and advocates, and this snowballed into a huge riot-like situation.
The altercations between journalists and photographers — waiting near the barricades at the two gates — on the one side and lawyers on the other started minutes before Mr. Reddy's convoy arrived. The lawyers reportedly asked media persons to stay away from the court premises, shouting slogans against the media and its motives.
‘Police were laughing'
TV9 journalist K.N. Kiran, who was the first to face the lawyers' wrath, said it all started with an argument between the lawyers and TV journalists at the court gate. “First, the police told us we were not to be allowed inside. When we tried to reason with them, the lawyers joined in and started shouting at us,” he said. Before he knew it he was slapped by a group of two or three lawyers, which escalated into beatings by the group. Significantly, he said, the police did not come to his rescue. “The police were simply standing by and laughing.”
‘Stones were pelted'
Another journalist, Narendra Madikeri from Samaya TV, said journalists were continuously attacked by different lawyers' groups. “They pelted stones at those they identified as journalists,” he said. Mr. Madikeri has sustained injuries on both his hands, and sprained his ankle while trying to dodge the stones. The stones were huge, he said, and suspected they been picked up from the Namma Metro construction site opposite the court premises.
Police fury too
Several members of the public were witness to the events unfold from the buildings surrounding the court premises.
Very little of what happened post-noon, however, was televised because the entire area was cordoned off. An eyewitness, an employee of the KPTCL, told The Hindu around 4 p.m., a rock came flying down from one of the court balconies and hit a policeman. He collapsed and was rushed into an ambulance, she said. Scores of police personnel, who were on the opposite of the footpath, saw what happened, rushed into the premises, cordoned off the area and then went berserk.
As people watched in horror, the policemen went about smashing the cars in the parking area and even gathering the bikes and setting them ablaze.
