[Video] 'Can't Do Journalism In This Environment': Journalists Heckled, Abused Outside JNU Gate

Violence broke out at the Jawaharlal Nehru University on the night of Sunday, January 5, as masked men armed with sticks and rods assaulted students and teachers as they took over the campus for almost three hours.

Around 30 students and 12 teachers injured in the attack were taken to AIIMS and Safdarjung hospitals. The professors and students have alleged that the men with masks belonged to the BJP’s student wing – ABVP.

The streets lights on the roads leading to JNU and the campus had been cut off. The entire campus was enveloped in darkness. When journalists reached the spot to report on the incident, they were heckled, abused or threatened by the goons standing at the campus gate.

One of the senior journalist working with Scroll.in was heckled and abused by the mob outside the campus.

“I was near the gate for a bit. I tried to move towards the back to see what was happening and take video when a man from the group grabbed me and shouted to the others, this guy is taking video, this naxalwadi is taking a video, get his phone,” Rohan Venkat, Associate Editor of Scroll.in told The Logical Indian.

Tried to take video of what was happening a little away from the gate, where more right wingers have gathered.

Got surrounded by folks calling me a naxalwadi, demanded my phone because I had my phone up and started shoving around. One knock to the head.

— Rohan Venkat (@RohanV) January 5, 2020

The mob did not spare him despite introducing himself as a journalist and showing his press card.

“I was surrounded by men who started to push me from all sides, demanding my phone. At some point, there was a blow to the back of my head, I’m guessing with just a fist, thankfully,” Rohan said.

He said that the police were standing in “silent and unmoving” way barely 5 meters away from the ruckus point. To escape the mob, Rohan moved towards the TV camera lights, shoving and pushing his way through the crowd.

“I later saw other journalists, including ones with TV cameras being heckled and hit. Again under cover of darkness, it was hard to identify the person doing it, and it was only others who managed to prevent more violence – the police did not do anything to help any journalist or person being hit,” Rohan concluded.

“I was gheraoed outside the main campus gate by some of the masked men when they got to know that I was reporting for The Hindu,” Siddharth Ravi told The Logical Indian.

The mob expressed its dissatisfaction on how the national daily covered the story, Siddharth said.

“They started talking about how The Hindu reports against the ABVP. They also questioned about our Editorials and how they were anti- ABVP,” Siddharth said.

A group of people including masked men in support of ABVP gathered around me and told me to leave the area after being identified as a journalist from The Hindu. Fled to avoid trouble.

— Sidharth Ravi (@SidRavii) January 5, 2020

The men showed Siddharth The Hindu’s news update and said they were biased. “They asked me to leave the spot. I wanted to stay longer as the situation was developing but didn’t think it was safe to stay,” added Siddharth. He said that the men who were questioning him seemed drunk.

India Today reporter Ashutosh Mishra, said a mob attacked him and labelled him a ‘Jihadist’ and ‘Naxali’ when he was giving a recording a piece to camera for his channel.

Video from our correspondent who reached the spot when a reporter from @IndiaToday was being heckled & stopped from recording his piece to camera. You can hear one man say, 'Maro saalon ko [beat them]," Another says, "Agli baar bakwas na karega [he won't talk nonsense again]." pic.twitter.com/pfjQ4sbeTF

— newslaundry (@newslaundry) January 5, 2020

He also alleged that as the mob attacked him and his cameraperson and broke his mike, the police did nothing. Karnika Kohli, the audience editor for Scroll.in who was reporting from the campus till 3 in the morning, told us that one guy instructed other 4-5 guys to beat up the NDTV guys if they spot him.

Just saw half a dozen people with bats and sticks 100 mts from jnu gate#jnu #JNUProtests

— Karnika (@KarnikaKohli) January 5, 2020

Ayush Tiwari who reports for NewsLaundry said that he was confronted by few people outside the campus. “Some of the men asked us to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’,” Ayush said. However, he said that some of the men among the mob did ask others to leave the press person. “We could not carry journalism in such a chaotic situation,” Ayush concluded.

Also Read: ‘Masked Mob Was Bloodthirsty, Faculties Were Hit By Rods’: JNU Professor Recalls Horror