Javadekar Condemns Attack On Deepak Chaurasia As BJP Terms Shaheen Bagh As 'Tauheen Bagh'

A day after the shameful attack on News Nation’s Deepak Chaurasia triggered a massive outrage in the media fraternity, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said he will write a letter to the Press Council of India over the issue. Condemning the attack on Chaurasia, Javadekar said this was a shocking case of extremism and the culprits must be exposed. The BJP has also slammed the incident. Chaurasia was reporting from the site when a man wearing yellow pullover tried to stop him. Unfazed by the disturbance, the senior journalist continued to do his work. Several senior journalists have come out in Chaurasia’s support and said that he was simply doing his job.

Meanwhile, an FIR has been filed on complaint of the senior News Nation journalist after he was allegedly manhandled and roughed up by some miscreants at Shaheen Bagh. Demonstrations have been ongoing in the area since December 15 last year.

Talking to News Nation, Javadekar said that now violence is being carried out in name of peaceful protests. "Whatever happened with Deepak ji is highly condemnable. As the I&B minister, I will write to the Press Council and seek an inquiry into the unfortunate incident. The way a media person has been attacked can't be tolerated. Some people have unlawfully encroached the public space in Shaheen Bagh. The nation will never accept the such approach,” Javadekar told News Nation.   

Narrating his ordeal, Chaurasia said that no police personnel was there at the protest site to protect him. Following the incident, a complaint has been filed by the Delhi police in this incident. DCP South East Delhi Chinmay Biswal assured that action will be taken against the perpetrators.

Thousands of people, including women and children, have been protesting for over a month at Shaheen Bagh and nearby Jamia Millia Islamia against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Previously, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) asked authorities to identify and arrange counselling for children seen at protests against the CAA at Shaheen Bagh.

According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 to escape religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship. It does not include Muslims. Those opposing the CAA have contend that it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA along with the NRC is intended to target the Muslim community in India.

However, the central government has dismissed the allegations, maintaining that the law is intended to give citizenship to the persecuted people from the three neighbouring countries and not to take away citizenship from anyone.