‘Outsiders and goons’, not students, harassed journalists during protests at Jamia Millia Islamia

Early on Monday morning, Pratima Mishra, 28, a journalist with ABP News, left her home in Delhi to cover the protests at Jamia Millia Islamia University against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Mishra had no clue she would soon face a situation very similar to what she went through in 2016. 

Near the campus, Mishra was heckled by a group of people while she was doing a piece to camera. She was one of several journalists who have been harassed while covering the protests in the last few days. Most of them claim their harassers were definitely “outsiders”, not students.

For Mishra, Monday’s incident was similar to what had happened in 2016, when she was reporting from outside Patiala House Court, Delhi. At the time, she was interrupted by a group of lawyers who asked her to recite “Vande Mataram”. 

At 6 am on Monday, Mishra was outside the campus with her cameraperson, Maan Singh Rajput. “I was doing my job, talking to students, knowing their stance,” she says. “At around 7 am, a protestor named Sehzad arrived. He was protesting against the police brutality by sitting half-naked. We were trying to convince him to wear the shirt as it was too cold and, to be very honest, we were doing our best to bring out the stories of what had happened in the university the previous night.” 

At 1 pm, students began to form a human chain. At 2 pm, Mishra says, four or five people approached her. One of them tried to switch off the ABP camera. “They were shouting that we are biased,” she says. “They encircled me in a way that nothing could have been recorded on camera if they did something to me.”

However, four or five students came to her rescue, Mishra says. “They took us to a safer place, away from the spot. In the meantime, I kept asking my cameraperson, Maan Singh Rajput, to keep recording what was happening.” 

The students told Mishra and Rajput that their harassers were local residents and not students. 

Ujjwal Roy had a more horrific experience. A journalist with ANI, Roy says he was beaten badly on December 16 near Gate No 1 of Jamia Millia Islamia. He says the perpetrators were not students.

“I was returning after covering the press conference held by the Jamia vice chancellor,” Roy recalls. “When I reached Gate No 1, towards Sukhdev Vihar, protesters approached us, with about 20-25 other people. They were shouting ‘Maaro Maaro Godi Media Walo ko Maaro’. They were also vandalising cars and motorcycles parked on the road. Within no time, they started hitting me on my back, on my face and even forehead.” 

A journalist for eight years, Roy says he had never faced such a situation. He started running away but the crowd then caught ANI cameraperson Saravjeet Singh, who was with Roy. “They beat him up. They were also hurling abuses and trying to break our belongings, cameras and other things. They were not students, I can say for sure. They were goons. Students never indulge in such kind of activities.” 

Roy and Singh were taken to the Holy Family Hospital, where they received medical aid before being discharged.

Roy too says the police did not intervene. “The policemen were standing a stone’s throw away, but they did nothing. They could have at least videographed the entire incident and identified who these people were. These people did not just beat journalists, but were also damaging public property and creating a ruckus.”

On December 15, BBC Hindi journalist Bushra Sheikh told ANI she was assaulted and abused by police personnel while covering the protests at Jamia. Sheikh said she was hit with a baton and the police took away her phone. 

As Roy points out, “We are journalists and we will go where the news is. The bigger question is: who is there to protect us?” 

Newslaundry reached out to the Delhi police commissioner for a comment, but did not receive a response.

(The author is a freelance writer based in Lucknow and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)