Journalists locked-up as Yogi Adityanath visits hospital; DM denies reports
What's the story
In a shocking incident that has come to light, a group of local journalists was allegedly locked up during Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's visit to Moradabad's district hospital on Sunday. The journalists alleged that they were locked inside a room by the District Magistrate at the hospital to prevent them from asking the CM tough questions. Here are more details.
Details
Locked for two hours, police stood guard, allege journalists
Reportedly, over two dozen media persons were locked up in an emergency ward as Adityanath visited for a routine inspection and interacted with patients and their family members. The journalists were released two hours later by Moradabad District Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Singh, half an hour after Adityanath left. The journalists also alleged that police personnel was stationed outside the door, standing guard.
Twitter Post
A journalist tweeted a video of the incident
Oh well! This actually happened! All the reporters and cameramen were taken to the emergency ward and locked inside it so they can't get to ask questions of the chief minister! @akashbanerjee https://t.co/7k24ghjfEw pic.twitter.com/KQYiU4lyQ4
— Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) June 30, 2019
Quote
Priyanka Vadra slams BJP; DM denies reports
Notably, Congress' Priyanka Vadra criticized the incident on Twitter: "Journalists are being held as hostages, questions are being shielded and problems are being sidelined. The BJP government, which got a majority in the Lok Sabha elections, is turning a blind eye to the questions of the public." However, Singh denied the allegations, saying journalists were locked-up as "it was not good for patients' health."
Twitter Post
Here's the Moradabad District Magistrate's tweet
It's not correct........during inspection so many media persons inside the ward....requested media persons not to go inside the ward with Honble Cm because it was not good for patients health.....only placed police personnel in corridore
— DM Moradabad (@DMMoradabad) June 30, 2019
Defense
Singh said journalists' allegations 'baseless'
As media persons claimed the DM told them not to visit the district hospital, Singh told ANI the allegations were "baseless." Moradabad's SSP Amit Pathak told The Indian Express, "Since it was a CM visit, security had been increased. With regards to any incident, the police were there for security purposes." Hospital staff blamed the huge gathering of people for the commotion, TIE reported.