The agency news which was printed in Dainik Bhaskar hurt the sentiments of a particular community.
Nagpur: In an outrageous incident, around 35-40 hoodlums, armed with Hockey sticks, stones, iron rods, lathis etc, barged into the Dainik Bhaskar office and broke all the computers (25-30 in number). The glass doors, windows, infrastructure, furniture and fixtures and other property were also broken and shattered.
According to sources, the news that was allegedly sent from a national news agency was printed in the Dainik Bhaskar daily which apparently hurt the sentiments of a particular community. A few enraged youths, on Wednesday, raided the office of Dainik Bhaskar and created havoc. They not only broke the entire office furniture, fixtures and computers but allegedly stole two mobile phones and a laptop.
As soon as the newspaper staff saw the huge crowd armed with iron rods, hockey sticks and lathis approaching them menacingly, some of them ran upstairs. In the melee, one employee of the daily, identified as Atul Modi, suffered head injuries. Two policemen who had come to the spot initially too suffered head injuries. The cars and other vehicles which were parked in front of the office including the BMW, Mercedes Benz and other cars also bore the brunt of the hoodlum’s assault.
The management has lodged a complaint against the hoodlums with the Imambada Police Station. Till the filing of this report, a large posse of police personnel including top officials were present at the site and were investigating the matter.
In-charge Police Inspector of Imambada Police Station PI Nerlekar, while speaking to Nagpur Today, said that the investigations are going on to find the culprits who committed this dastartdly act. He added that the informants and information network has been activated to get whereabouts and the details of the goons. He said that he is confident that all the goons who participated in this offense will be arrested soon.
The Office-Bearers of Tilak Patrakar Bhavan Trust including Pradeep Maitra, Bhramashankar Tripati, Anupam Soni and Shirish Borkar while condemning the whole incident said that we condemn the dastardly act of the hoodlums. They said that this is no way to express anger or anguish. If any group or community feels offended by any article or news report, one can always approach the Press Council of India or even the local court and file defamation suit. This is certainly not a way to express one’s anger. This is sheer nonsense. The city police should immediately take action against the culprits immediately. Their prompt action alone will ensure freedom of press. The police should also provide adequate security to the concerned press.
City Chief of The Hitavada Rahul Pande while condemning the ransacking of the office of Dainik Bhaskar said that this is shameful and needs to be condemned in the strongest possible words. However, he added that the perpetrators of the dastardly acts need to be brought to justice immediately. If we tolerate such nonsense, any group of anti-social elements will make it impossible for any media to work impartially, critically and fearlessly. This is not an attack of one newspaper, but an attack on the right of people to know the truth. If any person or community is aggrieved by any article or news, he or they could send a clarification or approach the local courts too .
