Chhattisgarh: Raipur journalist covering BJP meet thrashed by party men
What's the story
A journalist of a Raipur-based website was allegedly beaten up yesterday by BJP functionaries while he was recording a meeting of the party's district-level meeting in Raipur. Based on the complaint by journalist Suman Pandey, who sustained minor injuries to his head, a case has been registered against four persons, including BJP Raipur district president Rajeev Agrawal, said a police official. Read more.
Accused
Accused booked under IPC Sections 342, 323, 504, and 34
Pandey identified the other three accused as local BJP office-bearers Vijay Vyas, Utkarsh Trivedi, and Deena Dongre. He further said that no arrests had been made in this connection till now. The accused were booked under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the official said.
Allegation
Leaders were manhandling each other when the journalist recorded them
Pandey's complaint alleges that he was thrashed when he was covering the BJP meeting Saturday afternoon at its Ekatma Parisar office in Raipur, adding that leaders there were involved in a scuffle among themselves when the incident happened. "I was recording a video of the meeting on my mobile phone when suddenly BJP leaders started manhandling each other over some issue," he said.
Journalist's statement
They started hitting me and forcefully deleted the video: Journalist
"Meanwhile, BJP Raipur district president Rajeev Agarwal and another person, Utkarsh Trivedi, asked me to delete the video of the scuffle, which I refused. They then started hitting me and forcefully deleted the video," Pandey said. "I was made to sit inside the meeting room for about 20 minutes. When I came out, I informed other journalists about the incident," he added.
Information
Several other journalists later reached BJP office and protested
Later, several other journalists reached the BJP office, alerted police, and protested there demanding the arrest of those involved in assaulting Pandey. State BJP spokesperson Sacchidanand Upasane, who was also present in the meeting, said his party men had apologized to Pandey.
What happened
'Media-persons were asked to leave room after taking initial footage'
"The closed-door district level meeting was held to review the defeat in the recent Assembly election. Media persons were asked to leave the meeting room after taking initial footage. Party members were also asked to keep their mobile switched off," said Upasane. "On finding a man recording the video of meeting, he was told to stop and asked to delete the footage," he said.
The scuffle
Party leaders asked journalist to delete video; he refused
"After the man introduced himself as a journalist, party leaders asked him to delete the video," Upasane said. "A minor scuffle broke out between the journalist and party leaders over the issue, following which I asked the journalist to wait for a while and later told him to go outside," he said. The party leaders apologized after the journalists started protesting at the venue.
Quote
Chhattisgarh HFW Minister TS Singhdeo termed the incident as 'unfortunate'
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Health and Family Welfare (HFW) Minister TS Singhdeo termed the incident as "unfortunate". "It was an unfortunate incident and this should not have happened with anyone. Such a kind of incident is unacceptable and stern action should be taken," Singhdeo said.