At a time the entire country is up in arms against brutal rape and murder of an 31-year-old doctor in Kalkotta and massive protests are going on, including in Hyderabad assault on two women journalists in the native village of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy pushing the Congress government into embrassment.
Two women journalists, Avula Sarita and M Vijaya Reddy, were heckled, assaulted and pushed into the mud by followers of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in Kondareddypally in Nagarkurnool district on Thursday.The journalists community is angry and lodged a complaint with DGP Jitender. They are now planning to approach the Telangana State Women’s Commission, seeking action against the attackers.
Sarita and Vijaya Reddy were in Kondareddypally to investigate and report on the status of the farm loan waiver, a contentious issue in the State. They were allegedly targeted by the chief minister’s followers, as both of them known for their critical coverage of Revanth Reddy‘s government.
They were allegedly physically assaulted, some of the assaulters snatched the cameras from the cameramen and took away the digital storage cards, preventing the journalists from eliciting views of the locals. They were also stopped from leaving the location.
However, some how they were managed to escape and took refuge in the Veldandi police station even as their vehicles were chased, reportedly Congress workers and goons in several vehicles.Some Congress leaders, who arrived at the police station, are also learnt to have misbehaved with the journalists on the station premises.
As the situation escalated, the police provided security with an escort vehicle for the journalists from Veldandi police station to Hyderabad and dropped the women journalists at their houses. Sarita alleged that their camera was smashed, phones were snatched and they were pushed into the mud. She said that the police refused to file an FIR on their complaint.
Both the female journalists urged Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to recognise the troubling reality in Telangana. They expressed hope that the Press Council of India would take serious note of the unprecedented physical attack on them.
Expressing shock and anger over the incident, BRS working president K T Rama Rao said that it is the first such incident in Telangana’s 10-year history and the 60-year history of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.