Published On : Tue, Feb 25th, 2020

One journalist shot at, two other reporters attacked by mob in Delhi riots

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New Delhi: Three journalists were seriously attacked and many others were threatened by unruly mobs during the riots in Delhi. While journalist Akash, reporting for JK 24×7 News was shot at in east Delhi’s Maujpur on Tuesday, two reporters belonging to NDTV were beaten up by the mob when they were reportedly filming a mosque that had been set on fire. The NDTV journalists Arvind Gunasekar and Saurabh Shukla were reportedly let go after a third woman journalist pleaded with the mob to let them go. They were rushed to a hospital and were receiving medical aid.

According to a tweet by NDTV’s Executive Editor Nidhi Razdan, the mob only stopped beating them “after realising they are ‘our people- Hindus’”.

Saurabh Shukhla later tweeted to say that he and Arvind Gunasekar are alright.

This is just the latest in a string of attacks on journalists since the riots broke out in Delhi on Sunday.

Aunindyo Chattopadhyay, a photojournalist with the Times of India, detailed his horrifying experience in the newspaper on Tuesday, where he wrote that he was first approached by a Hindu Sena member who tried to put a tilak on his forehead to make his job easier, and he was later questioned when he tried to take a picture of a building on fire, and was asked why he was going there, as he was Hindu too.

The horror continued, where the mob threatened to remove his pants to verify his religion.

“A youth accosted me and asked, “Bhai, tu zyada uchhal raha hai. Tu Hindu hai ya Musalman? (Brother, you are acting very smart. Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?),” he wrote in TOI.

Times Now journalist Parvina Purkayastha had tweeted stating that she was attacked by pro-CAA protesters (right wing) for reporting facts. She said she had to plead with the mob which was wielding stones and sticks before she escaped.

A number of journalists across media organisations have voiced how challenging reporting on the Delhi riots have been the last few days. Rioters are questioning anyone holding a mobile phone and the mobile phones being checked for any incriminating pictures that are deleted on the spot.

Reports of violence and arson continue to trickle in from Maujpur, Jaffrabad and Kardampuri areas as Delhi police confirmed that seven people, including a police head constable, have died in the rioting that has continued sporadically across several localities since Saturday. Rioters used stones, sticks and country-made firearms as pro and anti-CAA protesters clashed.