Journalists’ groups and unions organised a candlelight vigil on Thursday to condemn attacks on journalists covering the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act across the country. Nearly 35 city-based journalists from across print, broadcast and online media gathered at the Mumbai Press Club to protest the ill-treatment meted to journalists in the recent past.
“Journalists’ job is to report facts and when you do so it becomes problematic for the ruling regime,” said senior journalist Jatin Desai. Other journalists pointed out how media persons were detained and abused in different parts of the country, and highlighted the treatment meted out to Omar Rashid of The Hindu who was detained in Lucknow while covering the protest opposing CAA. “It is shameful how Omar Rashid was detained as a suspect by the police and abused for three to four hours before they set him free. He was just doing his job without any bias. Stopping us from writing is like stopping us from breathing,” said Varun Singh, treasurer, Mumbai Press Club.
Seven journalists in Mangalore who were covering a CAA protest recently were detained by the police, who also took away their video equipment. Arun Shankar and Vaisakh Jayapalan from Mathrubhumi News were seriously injured while covering the protest at the Delhi Gate in Delhi.
Danish Reyaz of Maeeshat Media was present at Jamia Milia Islamia when the police entered the campus. “They also attacked our vehicles and when we identified ourselves as journalists, asked us to leave the area as soon as possible,” Mr. Reyaz said.
Journalists who are part of the Mumbai Press Club, Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, Television Journalists Association, Bombay News Photographers Association, Mantralaya Ani Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh and Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists, participated in the vigil. “The greatest form of patriotism is to hold your government accountable and not go with their standards and their version,” said journalist Divya Rajagopal.
Gurbir Singh, president, Mumbai Press Club, spoke about the agitation Mumbai journalists led against the Bihar Press Bill in 1982, which had provisions for jail terms of up to one year and made it mandatory for journalists to reveal their sources. “It was a scrupulous bill which united the entire media and ultimately made the government withdraw it,” he said.
