NEW DELHI: The Editors Guild of India condemned the attack on a journalist who was reporting on the alleged rape and murder of a teenaged Dalit girl in north Delhi. The association demanded strict action from the Union Home Ministry and the Delhi Police Commissioner against police officials involved in
the assault.
The Guild said in a statement that it was dismayed at the brazen attack by a Delhi Police official on Ahan Penkar of The Caravan magazine while he was outdoors performing his duty as a journalist. This was the fourth journalist from The Caravan magazine who has been attacked over the last two months in the national capital.
“The teenaged girl’s family and some student activists had organised a protest outside the Model Town police station. The police detained the protestors Penkar even when he was performing his professional duty. Despite displaying his press credentials, Penkar was slapped, kicked and detained by the police for four hours.
His phone was seized and his reported material including photographs were deleted,” said the statement by the association after the attack. “The egregious assault on The Caravan reporter violates constitutional principles and the media’s right to report freely.
EGI demands strict action from the Union Home Ministry and Delhi Police Commissioner against police officials involved in this assault so that such incidents do not take place in the future. Also, it should instruct halting of any case against the journalist,” added the statement by the association.