"The Karnataka Police treated us like criminals. We were denied of basic human rights," said a reporter with a news organisation based in Kerala, who spent eight harrowing hours in the police custody in Mangaluru on Friday.
The reporter and six other television journalists from Kerala were taken into custody while reporting on the death of two anti-Citizenship Act protesters, who were killed in police ring on Thursday night.
The journalists were in Mangaluru to report on the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests and the death of two protesters — Jaleel (49) and Nauseen (23) — who were killed in police ring on Thursday. "I was reporting from the premises of Government Wenlock Hospital when the bodies of the deceased were brought for post-mortem. Police descended on the scene suddenly and demanded our identity cards. We duly obliged," the reporter said.
"Then they asked for the accreditation card issued by the Government of Kerala. Three of us showed it. The harassment did not end there. Soon they forcefully confiscated our cameras, phones and the equipment for a live telecast. We were then dragged into the police van," he said. The reporter said they were kept in the van for four hours. "We could see journalists from Kannada television channels and national television channels reporting from the hospital premises.
When we screamed to seek their attention, the police asked us to shut up. We were not even allowed to speak to our fellow journalists," he said. The police took one reporter and four others to the Mangaluru South Police Station at noon. "What happened today was an attack on media freedom. The police did not allow to discharge our duties," he said. 'We were told to sit on the floor' A television journalist from another media organisation, who was taken into custody from the Police Commissioner's office premises in Mangaluru, said the police asked them to sit on the floor of the van after taking them into custody. "Police mistreated us. They asked us to sit on the floor of the vehicle, though most of the seats were empty," he said. "When we tried to stand up due to leg pain, they shouted at us to sit down on the floor," he said.
He added that the police snatched their camera and mobile phones. "We went to Mangaluru to report on the protests and deaths. Why did they treat like this? This is a blatant attack on media freedom," he said.
The detainees' eight-hour-long ordeal ended at 4 pm. After the release, the eight persons were taken to Kerala border town of Thalappady and handed over to Kerala Police.
