Three journalists were seriously injured and many others threatened by unruly mobs during the riots in Delhi. While journalist Akash, reporting for JK 24x7 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 given medical aid.
Just getting word that @arvindgunasekar and @Saurabh_Unmute of @ndtv we beaten up by a mob as they were filming a mosque being set on fire. My friend @Runjhunsharmas was with them and had to plead with the mob to let them go. Arvind is badly hurt, they're on their way to a hosp.
— Uday Singh Rana (@UdaySRana) February 25, 2020
Journalist Akash has been shot at #Maujpur, kardampuri area.
— Shantasree Sarkar (@sarkarshanta) February 25, 2020
Two NDTV journalists have been brutally beaten @arvindgunasekar @Saurabh_Unmute
Cops being shot. Journalists being asked religion. Civilians caught in crossfire. Is this the New India? #DelhiRiots #DelhiViolence
According to a tweet by NDTV’s Executive Editor Nidhi Razdan, the mob only stopped beating them “after realising they are ‘our people- Hindus’”.
Two of my colleagues @arvindgunasekar and @saurabhshukla_s were badly beaten by a mob just now in Delhi, they only stopped beating them after realising they are “our people- Hindus”. Absolutely despicable.
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) February 25, 2020
Journalist Akash has been shot at #Maujpur, kardampuri area.
— Shantasree Sarkar (@sarkarshanta) February 25, 2020
Two NDTV journalists have been brutally beaten @arvindgunasekar @Saurabh_Unmute
Cops being shot. Journalists being asked religion. Civilians caught in crossfire. Is this the New India? #DelhiRiots #DelhiViolence
Saurabh Shukhla later tweeted to say that he and Arvind Gunasekar are alright.
पिछले एक घंटे में बहुत शुभचिंतकों के फ़ोन और संदेश आए हैं .. हम लोग बिल्कुल ठीक हैं .. बाक़ी बातें बाद में होंगी ..
— Saurabh shukla (@Saurabh_Unmute) February 25, 2020
This is just the latest in a string of attacks on journalists since 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 that 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, the mob later threatening 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 tweeted stating that she was attacked by pro-CAA protesters (right wing) for reporting facts. She said she had to plead with the mob that was wielding stones and sticks before she escaped.
Sir, I was attacked by pro CAA protestors for reporting facts. A group of men armed with sticks and bricks cornered me to hit me, I pleaded them and ran for my life
— Parvina Purkayastha (@Parv05) February 24, 2020
Not saying Anti-CAA protestors weren't in action but being a senior journalist how are blindly siding?
A number of journalists across media organisations have voiced how challenging reporting on the Delhi riots has been the last few days. Rioters are questioning anyone holding a mobile phone and mobile phones are being checked for any incriminating pictures that are deleted on the spot.
Eventually, as the violence continued, it got too hot to work, and we pulled out.
— Devjyot Ghoshal (@DevjyotGhoshal) February 24, 2020
We weren't the only journalists to be cornered.
Not an easy day.
Ends.https://t.co/NsPHRNGnju
The walk from Jaffrabad to Maujpur wasn’t one bit easy. We were heckled and abused.
— Adrija Bose (@adrijabose) February 25, 2020
Men with sticks are roaming around. Shops have been burnt. A mention of ‘media’ is enough to get you attacked.
Despite all this, journalists are there. And they are doing their job. pic.twitter.com/fE15yrJy6f
Sir
— Shantasree Sarkar (@sarkarshanta) February 24, 2020
I was reporting from Bhajanpura today. PRO CAA Protesters happily chanted #JaiShriRam and pelted stones, bricks. They were attacking every man wearing a skull cap. Is this the time to take sides and flare up the existing communal fissures?
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.
With IANS inputs