Srinagar: A day after chief of Indian Press Council of India (PCI) Markandey Katju warned police and paramilitary personnel that they will have to face criminal proceedings if they commit any violence on scribes, chief minister of disputed Kashmir Omar Abdullah asked the journalists to wear suitable jacket in a bright colour while covering protest demonstrations.
In a fresh letter to PCI chief, Omar Abdullah wrote, “Last year we had a similar incident with a photographer caught in a police lathi charge. The photographers went on a flash strike and rest of the media fraternity joined them. The Director General of Kashmir Police mandated his officers to talk to them to resolve the issue. The journalists were represented by one of the senior journalist and one of the suggestions made by the police was that the association should design a suitable jacket/bib in a bright colour with PRESS prominently displayed on this”.
He said police had told the media men that they would procure these jackets at its own cost and these could be distributed as per a list provided by the association. “The cost of these jackets was to be borne by the police and not passed on to the journalists. This was agreed to by the association and they called off their strike. Since then neither the design not any other details were furnished to the police & the suggestion remained on paper,” he said.
“I hope in order to avoid beating of journalists by police, this suggestion should be considered as part of a possible code of conduct,” Omar wrote.
His comments came in the backdrop of targetting of Kashmiri journalists by police and paramilitary soldiers. At least four photo-journalists were beaten by police and paramilitary soldiers in Kashmir last week while the journalists were covering the protest demonstrations in Srinagar, the summer capital of disputed Kashmir. The policemen also snatched equipment from two of the photo-journalists and it, according to them, have not been handed over them by the police yet.
Earlier, PCI chief had taken strong note of the beating of the scribes by police and paramilitary soldiers.
He had said it is the duty of PCI under section 13 of the Press Council Act to uphold the freedom of the press. “A journalist while covering an incident is only doing his job. He is like a lawyer who defends his client. Just as a lawyer cannot be equated with his client, so also a journalist cannot be equated with the crowd. A lawyer may defend a murderer, but that does not make him a murderer. Similarly, a journalist is only doing his duty of conveying information to the public, and he enjoys the fundamental right of freedom of the media guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India,” he said.
The PCI chief said paramilitary forces and police in all States/Union territories must therefore be instructed not to commit any violence on media persons. “Otherwise they will face criminal proceedings which the PCI will launch against them,” he said.
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