Karnataka: Journalist attacked while recording speech during protest in Mysuru
Mohammed Safdar Kaiser, a reporter with ‘The Daily Kausar’, who was covering the event on Thursday, was allegedly assaulted by protesters, who asked him to delete the speech video.
A Mysuru-based journalist of an Urdu newspaper, who was covering a protest organised by Hindu Jagarana Vedike, was allegedly attacked for recording a speech made during the protest on Thursday.
The right-wing outfit was protesting against demolition of temples by the district administration recently. Mohammed Safdar Kaiser, a reporter with ‘The Daily Kausar’, who was covering the event on Thursday, was allegedly assaulted by protesters, who asked him to delete the speech video.
Mysuru police, who rescued the reporter from the mob, have taken a complaint, but an FIR is yet to be registered. In his complaint, Kaiser said while he was covering the agitation, some of the protesters approached him, asked for his identity card, and told him to stop shooting the video. When the reporter asked them why he was singled out, the protesters attacked him, Kaiser told police in his complaint.
He said the protestors raised objections when he was recording the speech of Vedike general secretary Jagadish Karanth.
Meanwhile, the police personnel present at the spot rushed to rescue the journalist and took him inside a room near the Kote Anjaneya Swamy temple in front of the Mysuru palace premises. Local media reports said that after police took him inside the temple, the protesters, who were armed with sticks, stood outside demanding he should let out.
Following the incident, president of Mysore District Journalist Association S Ravikumar has written to the Mysuru police commissioner, seeking action against the assailants and protection for journalists.