Times Now Navbharat reporter arrest: Chandigarh Press Club takes up matter with Punjab Guv

New Delhi: Chandigarh Press Club Saturday condemned the 'unlawful' arrest of Times Now Navbharat reporter Bhawana Kishore in Ludhiana on Friday when she was on her way to report the inauguration of Mohalla Clinics in Ludhiana by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Chandigarh Press Club said that the journalist was arrested by a male police officer and no woman police officer was seen there.

“For hours, her family was not informed. Her colleagues tried to contact her but to no avail,” the statement said.

In the evening, through a press release, it was informed that Commissionerate Police on Friday arrested three persons for hitting a woman with a speeding car, resulting in injury on her right hand and also using derogatory language. The three arrested were Bhavana Kishore, Mrityunjay Kumar and their driver Parminder Singh.

As per the press release, the said persons used derogatory language against the caste of the complainant due to which SC/ST act was slapped against them.

The Chandigarh Press Club raised several questions while calling the arrest unlawful.

"Now this press release in itself raises questions. If a person is hit by a case, under which law passengers have been booked? How would one know the caste of the complainant to use derogatory language against their caste? Who among the three used such language to be specific?" the press club said.

Chandigarh Press Club said that it is a blatant attack on the freedom of the press. 

Condemning the action of the Punjab Police, Chandigarh Press Club said that it is taking up the matter with Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit so that the guilty official could be brought to the book and directions be issued so that no such incidence takes place in future.

"Earlier also, there has been an attack on the freedom of the press and the authorities were involved in ‘arbitrary suspension’ of social media accounts of several Punjab-based journalists and organisations," the statement added.