Media fraternity to hold protest against Phillaur SHO
Journalists’ fraternity here has decided to hold a march on Monday to register their protest against the Phillaur police division SHO Gulshan Kumar for latter’s alleged highhandedness against the media persons and the general public.
Journalists’ fraternity here has decided to hold a march on Monday to register their protest against the Phillaur police division SHO Gulshan Kumar for latter’s alleged highhandedness against the media persons and the general public.
The media fraternity’s spokesperson Sarbjit Gill alleged that the SHO, a close aide of the Phillaur Akali MLA and chief parliamentary secretary Avinash Chander, had engineered protests against media persons in his presence at local police station recently with an aim to intimidate the reporters, who dare reporting against the alleged misdeeds of the police officer.
He said that the reporters from print and electronic media had recently boycotted the coverage of the police officer for his highhandedness.
“We have also submitted a memorandum against the SHO to the chief minister and the director general of police, but the authorities concerned are yet to take action against the erring cop,” he added.
A delegation of the Phillaur Press Club also met the senior superintendent of police Yurinder Singh Hayre against the misconduct of the SHO even as Hayre deputed the superintendent of police (detective) Rajinder Singh to redress their grievance.
The media persons lodged a written complaint against delay in shifting of the SHO from the area despite the fact that his real brother-in-law Sandeep Sharma was contesting for sarpanch’s post from Nangal village falling under Phillaur police station.
“Though the additional deputy commissioner had forwarded the complaint to the SSP, but the latter had not initiated any action. He is openly influencing the voters in favour of Sandeep Sharma. The elections will be held on July 3,” he alleged.
The media fraternity demanded that the erring SHO should be transferred immediately. Meanwhile, Punjab Press Club president Major Singh and Print and Electronic Media Association president Sanjeev Toni also extended full support to the Phillaur scribes’ agitation. “We will take up the issue with the chief minister,” they said.
SHO Sharma refuted the allegations and said that he was being victimised unnecessarily. “I did not ask anyone to hold protest against the media persons. The family members of a rape victim, who later died succumbing to her injuries, staged the protest against the accused. These protesters were also agitated over certain media reports that appeared in favour of the accused in a section of media. That’s why they raised slogans against them,” he clarified.