Journalists from different organisations on Tuesday marched to the Supreme Court in protest against the mob violence outside the Patiala House court where lawyers and politicians were seen beating up scribes and students.
Marching from the Press Club here, the journalists chanted slogans against Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi.
"When we were reporting from the site, around 15 people ganged up on us asking us to leave. We called the police for help but they said that they could not do anything. After they saw me recording the footage of them beating up others, they threatened me saying that if I don't leave they will break my bones. Despite all this, if Bassi calls it a minor scuffle then its incredible. I'm just doing my job here, they don't want to hear the truth," NDTV's reporter Sonal Mehrotra told ANI.
Hitting out at the Delhi Police, senior television journalist Barkha Dutt told ANI that the cops were given ample opportunities to intervene in the situation but they failed to do so.
"Bassi and Rajnath needs to take immediate action. We have the faces of the people responsible on tape. They are lawyers, who are meant to be symbols of the law. So, it is really shocking what has happened," Dutt said.
Echoing similar sentiments, India Today consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai said that the Delhi Police has time and again failed to defend journalists.
"We are not traitors, we are just doing our jobs. If you don't like what we do then don't listen to us but you can't attack us like this. What has happened is wrong, no matter how anyone tries to trivialise it," Sardesai told ANI.
Journalists and students bore the brunt of the violence yesterday outside the Patiala House court as attacks began when JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar was to be produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Loveleen.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA O.P. Sharma, who was yesterday seen thrashing Communist Party of India (CPI) minority wing leader Ameeq Jamei outside a Delhi court, stirred a fresh controversy on Tuesday and said that all those who have no respect for the nation and are 'anti-national' can go and live in Pakistan.
