SRINAGAR: The police today registered a case against a television journalist after Kashmir separatist leader Yasin Malik said she entered his bedroom without permission.
The reporter claimed that Malik assaulted her cameraman, who had accompanied her, and damaged their mobile phones.
Malik claimed the journalist entered his house in Maisuma today, saying that she had an appointment with him.
In his complaint to the police, he alleged the journalist barged into his bedroom and started asking him questions about the NIA probe into the funding of separatist leaders.
"She had lied to my sister that she had an appointment with me. The fact is she never called for an appointment," he told reporters at a press conference here after filing a complaint with the police for "breach of privacy".
The police have registered a case against the journalist and the cameraman under section 448 of the Ranbir Penal Code (illegal trespassing), which carries a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of Rs 1,000.
"Is this journalism? The Indian media has raped journalistic ethics," Malik said.
The journalist alleged Malik pushed the channel's cameraman down a flight of stairs. She said he also smashed their mobile phones.
The chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), who denied that he had assaulted her, said he had taken away her mobile phone because he feared she was using it as a recorder.
The journalist claimed she and the cameraman had made a "legal and ethical entry" into his house.
"Malik could have asked us to leave the location.
Instead, he smashed our mobile phones. He assaulted the cameraperson and pushed him from the stairs," the reporter said on her television channel.
She said he accused them of trying to carry out a "sting operation" on him.
"We asked questions. If you don't want to answer at least say you don't want to speak," the journalist said.
Malik was also asked at the conference about the NIA registering a case on the funding of separatist leaders.
"I am not concerned with what NIA has to do," he said.