They called us terrorists: Journalists share first-person account of the Patiala House incident

‘Looks like a terrorist’

DNA reporter Azaan Javed was called a terrorist by the group of lawyers in New Delhi’s Patiala House court. “That one looks like a terrorist. He is from JNU,” Javed recounts a lawyer having said when he spotted Javed hiding inside the court premises. He writes that he was attacked by around 8-10 people who asked him to run away after finding out that he was a journalist. Read More

Another DNA journalist Ritika Jain wrote of how she felt unsafe even inside the courtroom of a district judge. “One lawyer, with a look of violence on his face, walked into the courtroom with a lit cigarette on his lips. He saw me, tapped his ash and asked for my phone,” Jain said. She had to hide inside the courtroom for 45 minutes before escaping from a back door. Read More

‘maaro saale ko’

‘Saale Pakistan Zindabad bol rahe hain, maaro saale ko‘ is what a journalist from The Telegraph heard inside the Patiala house court on Tuesday. Basand Kumar Mohanty shared that a Malyalam TV channel anchor Manu Shankar among others were roughed up by the angry mob for doing their job. Female journalists were not spared and they also had to face abuses and assault of the attackers. Read More

‘Delhi Police did nothing’

Amiya Kumar Khushwaha of news agency IANS was slapped several times without any provocation from his side before he was rescued by some lawyers who recognised him. Amiya recounted that the Delhi Police personnel deployed at the court premises did absolutely nothing to control the situation. Read More

‘bone bhi todenge aur phone bhi todenge’

The lawyers shouted ‘deshdrohi journalist, bone bhi todenge aur phone bhi todenge’ as they threatened Times Now reporter Sana Shakil. She wrote that the mob grew from 40 to around 200 and four journalists were locked inside a courtroom. When they approached the cops for help, the angry lawyers threatened them by saying that they were next. The policewomen adviced female journalists to ‘understand the mood and leave the courtroom’. Read More

‘Desh ke gaddaar’

Indian Express journalists were also attacked by the mob and were called anti-national. Alok Sharma and Kaunain Sherrif were present at the court when the situation became serious all of a sudden as a group of lawyers barged inside the courtroom and asked the JNU students and journalists to leave the room. Read more here