New Delhi, May 6: The Editors Guild of India on Saturday voiced concern over the arrest of a news channel’s woman reporter by the Punjab Police and demanded her immediate release.
Bhavana Kishore of Times Now Navbharat, who was on a reporting assignment in Punjab, was reportedly involved in an accident and detained by police.
In a statement, Times Now Navbharat said Kishore, cameraperson Mrityunjay and their driver were arrested by police in Ludhiana on charges of “rash driving and insulting Dalits”.
The media organisation said she was illegally detained without the presence of a woman police official.The journalist was denied legal and telephone access and was arrested post-sunset, it said.
The policeman who accompanied Bhavana was not wearing a name badge, which is a mandatory requirement on duty, according to the statement.
“This is not just blatant misuse of the state machinery for vendetta but also misuse and disrespect of the SC/ST Act which is being invoked wrongly and without any basis to intimidate. Times Network is seeking legal recourse and cooperating with the investigating authorities,” the media organisation said.
The Editors Guild said the FIR registered against the reporter at a Ludhiana police station “appears excessive and with undue haste”.
“EGI urges the Punjab government to release the journalist from detention and direct its police to follow the established procedures,” the guild said.
It said given that the reporter was on an assignment, law enforcement agencies should have exercised due restraint with respect to detention and subsequent filing of FIR. (PTI)
