Malkangiri: A reporting assignment by five journalists to a Community Health Centre (CHC) in Korukonda has snowballed into a major row between scribes’ union and the police after they were arrested late on Friday night.
Hundreds of journalists from across the district are sitting in protest on the Malkangiri police station premises demanding action. They have warned of indefinite agitation till their colleagues are released. They also warned of non-cooperation with the police in all future assignments.
The arrests were reportedly made on the complaint of some doctors of the health centre, who were allegedly manhandled by the reporters.
Sources said the five had gone to the CHC to report on issues plaguing the patients. While they were video-recording the ground realities, a few doctors reportedly stopped them from doing so. This led to a scuffle that was telecast on a news channel, bringing the matter to the fore.
The doctors then reported the matter to the police, who, in turn, acted swiftly and picked up the scribes from their homes in the dead of night.
The police said the doctors charged the scribes with obstructing them in the discharge of duty and assault. Charges were slapped under sections 384, 332, 353 and 186 of the IPC.
On the other hand, the protesting journalists have alleged that the police were not acting on the counter FIR lodged by them against the doctors.
“The police are trying to curb our freedom of speech by carrying out unnecessary midnight raids on our fellow journalists and not registering a legitimate FIR against the doctors. We will take up the matter at the highest level,” said Duryodhan Patra, a senior journalist.
The police action was also condemned by the Malkangiri Bar Association and Tribal Union.
The journalists said that even if there was some issue, the sparring factions could have been called to the police station and the matter resolved amicably through talks. Instead, the police took one-sided coercive action against the journalists without going into the matter, they claimed.
Collector Vishal Singh has said he will speak to SP Prahlad Sahai Meena on the matter.
