While the national capital continues to burn in the pyre of communalism, we wouldn’t know much about it if it weren’t for the journalists, ground reporters who have been risking their lives to bring the horrific details on the ground to us. 

The Print

Violent mobs that have been on a rampage more than 48 hours have also attacked journalists, asked their religion, as many eyewitnesses have said. Reporting hasn’t been easy as many journos have themselves admitted. 

According to the Economic Times, a journalist was reportedly shot at and hospitalised during the violence in northeast Delhi on Tuesday. Several others including three reporters and a cameraperson from NDTV were also assaulted by mobs.

NDTV

According to a report published by the news outlet, there were no cops present to prevent the attacks on crews who were doing their jobs.

One of the reporters Arvind Gunasekar was hit in the face and was about to be on the receiving end of a lathi, when his colleague Saurabh Shukla intervened and fell victim to the hit instead. He was also punched in the stomach and hit on his leg and was limping. Arvind lost three teeth in the attack.

NDTV’s Mariyam Alavi was hit on the back by a mob in a different part of northeast Delhi, from where she was reporting. The cameraperson Sushil Rathee was also injured.

The Hans India

Akshay Kumar Dongare, another reporter was assaulted by a mob on Monday during a live report. He and his cameraperson were surrounded by a mob that slapped him and tried to snatch his mic and mobile.

Here’s another reporter, Runjhun Sharma from News18 narrating the same incident with the NDTV crew.

The Economic Times report also states that three journalists from the Times of India were also surrounded by a mob. While one received a leg injury, another was threatened with violence and asked to prove that he was uncircumcised. 


Daily Hunt

The same report speaks of a female journo who had been surrounded by the mob and had her phone snatched as they suspected her to be sent by Muslims.

Akash, a scribe from JK 24×7 News reportedly was shot while covering the violence in Maujpur and was in critical condition, the news outlet tweeted. 

Scribe Ismat Ara speaks of her horrifying experience to Firstpost, as she went in to cover the violence in Maujpur. 

I was scared they would catch me for being a journalist, molest me for being a girl, lynch me for being a Muslim. 

-Ismat Ara

She also writes about all she witnessed there- the murderous intent of the mobs surrounding Muslim majority areas and simply going after them. 

Despite this, many of them are still on the ground amidst all the violence, risking their lives trying to bring the truth to us. Twitter has been hailing their bravery in light of these events. 

Meanwhile, The Press Club of India and the Indian Women’s Press Corps have expressed serious concern over the attack on journalists covering the communal violence. In a joint statement released today, they said: 

Several of them have been hospitalised. They have been punched and attacked by communal mobs, and police were either absent or have not come to help. Shockingly, mobs were checking the religious credentials of journalists.  

The state of Indian journalism is not hidden to anyone. But this is different. Given the circumstances and mayhem that continues to raze through the capital, one must really commend the bravery shown by these scribes to bring out the truth for us.