Journalist Shivendra Urs, a stringer with The Times of India in Mysuru, has stated that he was “manhandled and illegally confined” by supporters of Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait. The incident occurred while Urs was covering the Congress minister’s campaign rally in Narasimharaja constituency in Mysuru city.
According to a TOI report, Urs has alleged in a police complaint that he was “heckled, intimidated and finally confined in a room for about 20 minutes by Sait’s supporters”. The report quotes Urs: “The supporters threatened me and dared me to leave the area. When I made an attempt to leave the spot fearing my safety, they dragged me, heckled me, photographed me and illegally confined me in a house and insisted that I talk to Sait. He came and questioned me about TOI carrying an article on SDPI candidate Abdul Majeed, and accused the paper of supporting SDPI. He gave me a lecture about journalism.”
The Mysuru District Journalists’ Association has condemned the attack, while the minister has stated that his supporters mistook Urs for a Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) activist and that he had intervened to free the journalist. A Deccan Herald report states that Sait spoke to Urs for 30 minutes and asked him why TOI had carried an article on SDPI candidate Majeed and accused the newspaper of supporting the party. “Though I told Mr Sait that as journalists, it was our job to report on all parties, he refused to budge and gave me a long lecture on journalism ethics,” Urs stated.
Sait told 101 Reporters that he has already sent an apology letter to the Press Club of Mysuru expressing regret over the incident. “I have also apologised to Shivendra Urs and also sent an apology letter to The Times of India,’’ he said. Urs confirmed Sait’s apology. “The incident took place in the morning. I filed the complaint with the police at 7 pm. Tanveer Sait apologised to me at 9.30 pm. I am yet to make up my mind on withdrawing my complaint,’’ Urs said.
Meanwhile a video doing the rounds on Twitter shows journalist Rajdeep Sardesai being heckled at a restaurant in Bengaluru.