journalist-questioned-in-2020-bhajanpura-assault

Journalist Prabhjit Singh, employed with The Caravan, was questioned by police four years after an altercation involving media personnel and residents in North-East Delhi's Bhajanpura area.

 

Singh, who was served a notice on June 3, was asked to participate in the investigation on June 7, according to a senior police official on Saturday.

 

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) Joy Tirkey stated that Singh cooperated with the investigation at Bhajanpura Police Station on June 7, providing his statement. Further inquiries into the incident are ongoing.

 

The incident, which occurred on August 11, 2020, at approximately 3 PM, was reported to Bhajanpura police station through a PCR call, detailing a confrontation involving media personnel. Allegedly, the altercation transpired while journalists were on assignment in Bhajanpura.

 

Both parties involved lodged separate complaints, resulting in the registration of two distinct FIRs, the police explained.

 

Singh claimed that a female colleague accompanying him was assaulted and harassed by individuals in Subhash Mohalla, Bhajanpura, although he did not identify the perpetrators in his complaint.

 

A female resident also lodged a written complaint, accusing Prabhjit Singh and two fellow journalists, including Shahid Tantray, of assaulting her and her husband.

The complaint further alleged that the trio engaged in "negative reporting" that incited animosity on religious grounds.

 

While the female resident's statement was recorded before a magistrate, the woman reporter involved in the incident has yet to participate in the investigation, the officer noted.

 

In response, The Caravan issued a statement expressing concern over the development, asserting that neither the publication nor the implicated journalists had been informed of any FIR for four years.

 

The statement described an incident on August 11, 2020, where three of its journalists, including Prabhjit Singh and Shahid Tantray, were allegedly assaulted and subjected to communal slurs in Subhash Mohalla, Northeast Delhi.

 

The magazine vehemently denied the allegations in the FIR, labeling them as "false and fabricated." It further disclosed delays in registering their own FIR, which the police later categorized as a "counter FIR."

 

The Caravan affirmed its commitment to cooperating with the investigation and availing itself of legal recourse to challenge the accusations.