MANGALURU: A group of journalists from Kerala were stopped from reporting on the violence over the contentious Citizenship Act in Mangaluru on Friday. Police even snatched their cameras and cellphones on the pretext that they were not accredited journalists and said they will soon be deported to Kerala.
In a video which has gone viral, Mangaluru police commissioner PS Harsha can be seen stopping a TV journalist reporting live from Wenlock district hospital where people injured in the violence have been admitted. Though the reporter showed him his identity card, the top cop was not convinced and is heard saying that it is not an accreditation card issued by the state government. Police also bundled the reporters into a police van after taking away their cell phones and cameras and local reporters were also not allowed to meet them.
Journalists in Kasargod in Kerala staged a protest condemning the Mangaluru police action. A journalist with an English daily in Kasaragod said it's normal for journalists from outside the state to come and report whenever major incidents occur. "Even journalists from Karnataka reported the Sabarimala issue from ground zero. They were not sent back though most of the reports went against the Kerala government. So, stopping the Kerala journalists from reporting in Mangaluru is highly condemnable," he said.
He said journalists can't be stopped from reporting just because they were not accredited as only a few scribes in all cities have accreditation.
The Kerala government has taken up the issue with the Karnataka government. Mangaluru police sources said the Kerala journalists will be deported at Talapdy on the Karnataka-Kerala border after which their cellphones and cameras will be handed over to them.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and former minister B Ramanath Rai accused the BJP government in the state and CM BS Yeddyurappa of instigating violence by imposing Section 144 in the state. “If prohibitory orders were not imposed, the two innocents would have not been killed. Prohibitory orders are imposed only when the situation goes out of control which was not the case in the state,” he said.
He also accused the police of entering the ICU in a private hospital where the injured were admitted and lobbing tear gas in the hospital premises causing fear among patients and their attendants. He claimed the
police had deployed some political leaders to convince the protesters to withdraw and then lathi-charged them.