Hyderabad: The Indian Journalists’ Union today condemned the arrest of some reporters and camerapersons of a TV news channel and print media in Mangaluru on Friday while covering the situation in the city in the aftermath of the death of two persons in police firing during the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on Thursday.
In a statement here on Friday, IJU president K Sreenivas Reddy and secretary-general Balwinder Jammu said the prevention of journalists from doing their duty was a direct attack on the freedom of the press and freedom of expression. “The highhanded behavior of the police towards the news gatherers and their refusal to accept their identity cards is unacceptable. We urge upon the government of Karnataka to immediately release the arrested journalists and allow them to do their professional duty.”
They also requested the Chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI) to take Suo moto cognizance of the incident and initiate action against the Karnataka police for obstructing journalists from reporting which amounted to pre-censorship, not acceptable under the Constitution.
