Delhi violence: Editors Guild asks cops, Home Ministry to ensure media is not attacked

The death toll in the violence in northeast Delhi has climbed to 13.

Several journalists’ groups on Tuesday condemned the attacks on journalists covering the violence in northeast Delhi and the police inaction. The Editors Guild of India expressed concerns “over the manner in which journalists assigned to cover the violence in Delhi have been targeted for physical attack” and stated that there were reports of “journalists being hospitalised after such attacks”.

It noted that “journalists being attacked is tantamount to a direct assault on press freedom and those guilty of having indulged in such violence must be brought to book”. Urging the Delhi Police to take necessary steps “to provide protection to journalists and prevent any such attack in the future”, it requested the Union Home Ministry, “under which Delhi Police functions, to investigate these incidents and punish the guilty” and also asked it to “Delhi Police to take appropriate action”.

The Press Club of India and Indian Women’s Press Corps also expressed serious concern about journalists getting attacked by violent mobs while covering the violence in the past two days. In a joint statement, the two bodies said they “express serious concern that journalists on duty have come under attack while covering the communal violence rocking northeast Delhi since last Sunday”.

It said that several journalists have been hospitalised, as had been “punched and attacked by communal mobs, and police were either absent or have not come to help”. Shockingly, it said, “Mobs were checking religious credentials of journalists.”