SRINAGAR, J&K—The “freedom of media” in India today got visualized in Srinagar when the J&K police thrashed three journalists covering the protest by Islamia College students against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) inside their campus.
The victim journalists have been identified as Azaan Javaid (ThePrint), Anees Zargar (NewsClick) and Hakeem Irfan.
The incident occurred at around 2 pm today when the reporters and photojournalists ran towards the spot when they heard that student protests were happening against the CAA, which like the reading down of Article 370 has got worldwide criticism.
On reaching at the spot, the journalists observed police cops arresting some boys who were not even the part of the protest.
When the journalists started capturing photos and recording the video of police excess, the police cops also broke out on journalists and started thrashing them.
First, they were told to show the identity cards, and when they did so, the police cops started questioning their authenticity. They also snatched the phone of Journalist Azaan Javaid and asked him to collect it from police station after heated arguments.
Another victim journalist Anees Zargar said that a police officer acted out of a sense of vendetta against him. “The police officer saw me and said, ‘I am that official against whom you had done a story’,” said Zargar while adding that he began thrashing him after this.
