Three journalists allegedly beaten by Police in Pulwama

PULWAMA — Three photo and video journalists were allegedly beaten and camera damaged by J&K Police personnel when they were covering an encounter which broke out in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday morning.

One of the eye-witness journalists, wishing anonymity, who was near the encounter site when journalists were beaten by police personnel in Marval area of Kakapora in Pulwama said that he had reached the spot around 8 AM and while he was doing his job, some J&K policemen came and started beating the journalists who were present on the spot.

He identified the journalists as Kamran Yousuf (NewsClick), Reshi Irshad (Current News of India) and Faisal Bashir (Freelancer).

Reshi Irshad said, “My camera was also damaged as the policemen started beating us without any reason and didn’t listen to us as we were just doing our job.”

Interestingly, Kamran Yousuf was detained in 2017 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and was subsequently released after seven months. “This is not the first time that journalists have been beaten for performing their duties. This has to stop now,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention that a gunfight broke out between government forces and militants in Marval area in Kakapora Pulwama on Tuesday morning and the journalists had reached the gun battle spot to do their professional duties.