Anantnag, July 18: On Saturday evening, a journalist was allegedly assaulted by the police at the Sangam checkpoint in Kashmir’s Anantnag district while he was on his way back home.
Aakash Hassan, 23, confirmed the incident through his social media handle . He also shared pictures showing bruises and marks on his face and hand.
Hassan said, “there was a traffic jam on the national highway and it took the police around 15 minutes to clear it. An SI was standing in the middle of the road. They thrashed a pickup driver who was driving in front of me. When I reached near them, and slowed down my car down, they grabbed my collar and hit me in the face without any reason. As I tried to talk to them they did not listen to me, one of them spotted a press tag on my vehicle and shouted “press” and tried to drag me out, but I swerved away quickly.”
After the incident, Hassan drove to a nearby hospital in Anantnag town where he received first aid treatment. He was further advised to see an ENT specialist for the required treatment.
The district police in Anantnag responded to his tweet that was widely shared by his colleagues and other people saying, “Cognisance taken. Circumstances that led to this being looked into. During rush evening hours, a loaded truck got stuck due to mechanical fault on Sangam bridge leading to heavy traffic jamming. Been working hard to clear it.Request all to cooperate with police & avoid confrontation.”
Hassan also demanded that the police authorities file a case against the cops who assaulted him. “They should be taken to task so that they won’t repeat it,” he said.
The attack was condemned by the Kashmir Press Club demanding an investigation into the matter. “It is an unfortunate incident that journalists are being beaten up like that, we hope that authorities will take note of this unfortunate incident and will find out what exactly happened,” Shuja ul Haq, Kashmir Press Club president, said. He further said that nobody should be treated like that.
The Journalist Federation of Kashmir urged action against the cops Involved in the case while saying the attack on Hassan “once again highlights the lack of accountability and reflects the ground reality in Kashmir”.
