A photographer working with a Tamil daily was assaulted by an inspector when he went for an assignment at Kumaran Nagar Police Station here on Saturday.
Photo-journalist Yuvaraj went to cover a demonstration by a group of people who were picketing the police station, demanding action against the son of a former chairman of Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission (TNPSC).
When he reached the place, he found a man lying in an inebriated condition inside the police station compound and took his picture. Irked by this, inspector (Law and Order) D Venkatesan hauled up the photographer for taking pictures. When he tried to get hold of Yuvaraj’s camera, the latter refused to let it go. This enraged Venkatesan who hit Yuvaraj and took mobile phones from his pocket. He then dragged the photographer inside the station and verbally abused him. He then left the spot after handing over the camera and mobile phones to his subordinates and ordered them to be produced in court.
Later in the day, a peace meeting was organised at Chinthadripet, which was chaired by Additional Commissioner (Law and Order-South and East) S Rajesh Dass and the camera, which was wiped clean of all the images, was returned to the photo-journalist.
Upset over this, journalists and press photographers demanded immediate action against the inspector, who misbehaved with the media person.