Police beat reporter on Srinagar street
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 27 April 2010 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Police beat reporter on Srinagar street, 27 April 2010, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4bda870b8.html [accessed 30 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Indian policemen yesterday gave Gowhar Bhat, a reporter for the Greater Kashmir daily, a beating on a street in Srinagar, the capital of the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the photos taken by a colleague, one can see a dozen police officers smiling as they lay into Bhat with their batons.
Led by Sub-Inspector Javaid Ahmad of the Kothibagh district police station, the policemen attacked Bhat while he was covering a People's Democratic Party demonstration.
"I was covering the demonstration when a policeman came up and slapped me for no reason," Bhat told Reporters Without Borders. "I told him I was a journalist but he did not calm down. A dozen of his colleagues surrounded me and hit me with their batons." Two journalists who tried to help him were also beaten.
"The policemen responsible for this gratuitous violence against a journalist must be punished," Reporters Without Borders said.
