PCI protests police action against woman journalist
Navbharat Times journalist Poonam Pandey was detained for covering a demonstration near Kartavya Path
The Press Club of India (PCI) on Tuesday condemned the police action against Navbharat Times journalist Poonam Pandey, who was detained on Monday evening for covering a demonstration near Kartavya Path.
“The PCI management, on behalf of the journalistic fraternity, also demands disciplinary action against the personnel involved and strictures to security personnel to pre-empt any instances of high-handedness against journalists in the future,” said a statement.
The PCI said Ms. Pandey, who was returning from South Block to her office, had stopped en route to cover a demonstration by Mahila Congress workers demanding women’s reservation. “However, she was physically prevented by police personnel controlling the demonstrators from filming the protests and later rounded up along with the demonstrators despite proving her identity as a journalist and showing her identity card,” it said.
Stating that journalism was not a crime but “silencing journalists is certainly a crime against democracy”, the PCI said by intimidating and detaining a woman journalist from carrying out her duties and rounding her up using physical force, the security personnel in question had committed an act that can have a chilling effect.
“The act smacks of an attitude towards a free press characteristic of the current administration. The club management demands an independent judicial inquiry to determine whether security personnel have been instructed to target journalists covering events that might cause discomfort to those in power,” said the PCI.
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