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Scribes seek action against Jehanabad magistrate

Staff Correspondent

Complaint filed before NHRC and Press Council of India

NEW DELHI: Sixteen journalists have filed a complaint before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Press Council of India demanding a probe into an incident involving the Jehanabad district magistrate a day after Maoists stormed a sub-jail on November 13.

A big contingent of print and electronic journalists was covering the chaotic scenes in front of the sub-jail, when magistrate Rana Awadhesh Singh came up with a large number of policemen, the petition said.

When he accosted an Aaj Tak team, which was telecasting the developments of the day after the jailbreak, K. Balchand, special correspondent of The Hindu, tried to intervene to prevent matters getting out of hand. Just then a mob, seeking "justice" from Mr. Singh, attempted to manhandle the magistrate. At this, he asked his guards to beat up the journalists. He himself hit Mr. Balchand with a baton and shouted expletives at him, the petition said.

The petition alleged that the police guards hit Mr. Balchand with rifle butts on Mr. Singh's orders.

Stern action demanded

The other journalists fled to their safety. The electronic media recorded the episode from a distance.

The journalists later rushed Mr. Balchand to hospital. They demanded stern action against Mr. Singh and said they were ready to testify before the NHRC. Mr. Singh's action impinged on their right to freedom of speech and expression and their rights under the Right to Information Act, the journalists said.

Copies of the petition have been sent to the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, the Chief Election Commissioner and the general secretary of the Council of Protection of Public Rights and Welfare, Patna.

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