A delegation of women journalists today urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take strong action against those who thrashed members of their fraternity in a court here yesterday.
At a meeting, a delegation of Indian Women's Press Corps told Singh that a brutal assault was unleashed by lawyers on journalists in Patiala House court yesterday preventing them from discharging their duties.
They also complained that police remained "silent spectators" during the assault and asked Singh to fix accountability on the men in uniform.
Violence broke out in the court complex yesterday as groups of lawyers attacked journalists, students and teachers of JNU and unidentified people dubbing them as anti-nationals in the wake of a row over the arrest of a student leader.
"Even women journalists were not spared. It is unfortunate that security personnel of Delhi Police did nothing even as the assault continued," the IWPC delegation led by its president T K Rajalakshmi, general secretary Ravinder Bawa and vice-president Shobhna Jain, said.
The journalists, accompanied by some victims of the assault, urged the Home Minister to verify CCTV footage of the incident to book those who were involved in it.
"We demand that the perpetrators of the assault be brought to book at the earliest," the delegation said in a memorandum.
They said it was a matter of concern that the Delhi Police Commissioner had dismissed the incident as a "scuffle".
"Such observations will encourage those elements who already believe that they are above the law of the land," they said.
Sources said the Home Minister assured the delegation that he would instruct the Delhi Police Commissioner to take urgent action and ensure the guilty are punished.
