New Delhi: A senior journalist had to be hospitalised after he was allegedly assaulted while covering a Bharatiya Janata Party protest against the Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, PTI has reported.
Dainik Jagran reporter Rakesh Sharma allegedly invited the ire of BJP protesters, including party MLAs, when he and other journalists asked them about security lapses which could have led to the attack.
Security in Jammu and Kashmir is in the control of the BJP-led Union government.
PTI reports that a BJP member identified as Himanshu Sharma accused the journalists of speaking a “separatist language” for raising these questions. Also present were BJP legislators Devinder Manyal, Rajiv Jasrotia and Bharat Bhushan.
Manyal was specifically asked whether the Pahalgam terror attack and the movement of militants in Kathua “are not reflective of central government’s failure to check infiltration from across the border,” according to PTI.
The journalists allegedly objected to repeated interjections by Himanshu Sharma and decided to boycott the protest. Sharma, along with BJP workers identified by PTI as Ravinder Singh, Ashwani Sharma, Manjit Singh, Tony and Parveen Chuna attacked the journalist Rakesh Sharma, beating him up in full view of protest attendees.
Videos of the assault have been shared on social media.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
