Bulldozers were back in the news cycle last week with the Yogi Adityanath government’s crackdown on gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his aides, who have been accused of killing a witness in a 2005 murder case.
But as one channel after another hailed the return of “baba ka bulldozer”, the perils of such reportage were ostensibly visible in Prayagraj’s Chakiya locality, where an ANI journalist’s property was demolished without any of these channels reaching out to him for his version.
This, amid the administration pointing to notices being served for illegal construction, and the mainstream media suggesting that the owner was a close aide of Atiq Ahmad.
Jafar Ahmad, a Banda-based journalist for ANI, claimed he was never served a notice. And while he had rented out the premises to Atiq’s wife Shaista Parveen, and his brother-in-law Shaulat Haneef is Atiq’s lawyer, Jafar maintained that he has been targeted and punished for no crime.
“I am being called Atiq Ahmad’s henchman. Something else is being said elsewhere. If I knew that renting your house to someone was a crime then I would have never rented out my house,” the journalist told Newslaundry. “My 14-year journalism career has been destroyed. Whatever respect I had earned has been wrecked in a moment.”
The latest bulldozer campaign in UP took off soon after the murder of Umesh Pal, who was the prime witness in the murder of MLA Raju Pal in 2005, in February. In the new case, jailed politician Atiq is among the accused, as are his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista, and sons Adham and Abaan, among others. They have been booked under provisions of the IPC and Explosives Act.
This came after the Samajwadi Party targeted the BJP government over law and order issues in the UP assembly, and chief minister Yogi Adityanath hit back at the opposition party and its “patronage” to criminals – in a vague reference to Atiq’s alleged links to the SP. “No criminal or mafia will be left. They will all be pulverised,” Adityanath had thundered in the assembly…
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here