Press Club of India (PCI) demands immediate arrest of hooligans who attacked journalists

New Delhi, 06 April 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: Press Club of India,  the largest body of journalists on Tuesday condemned the way five journalists were attacked during the so-called Hindu Mahapanchayat meeting held on April 3 at Delhi’s Burari Ground without Police permission. It demanded immediate arrest of hooligans and judicial enquiry into the incident.

Terming the attack as highly deplorable, PCI said, “It seemingly smacks of pre-conceived nefarious designs of communal hooligans to force mediapersons to follow their hidden agenda. Going by the series of attacks on media persons in the recent past, it could be inferred that these people are hell bent on gagging the press in its entirety.

As harassment, intimidation and attack on journalists seems to become a new normal.  It is also sad on the part of Delhi Police that it remained mute spectator and didn’t arrest the culprits involved in the Burari attack.

On the face of it, Press Club of India demands immediate arrest of these hooligans with communal overtones and judicial enquiry is initiated to unearth a sequence of events leading to barbaric assault on mediapersons.

On Ballia Incident

The PCI also took strong notice of  Ballia incident.

“It is highly condemnable on the part of Ballia district administration to arbitrarily arrest those Ballia-based journalists who had exposed the leak of 12th examination English paper. It is just akin to a case of a kettle calling the pot black”.

“Of late, it has been observed that the UP government is going hammer and tongs to threaten and actually arrest those mediapersons who don’t toe the line of government thinking over the issues of policy measures. And sycophant and more-than-eager UP police and bureaucrats don’t waste time to arrest mediapersons at first-available opportunity to please Powers-that-be.”

Press Club of India demands from the UP government in particular and the Ballia administration in general that the arrested journalists be released immediately and mafiamen involved in question paper leak be brought to book.