Srinagar: Terming the assault on Kashmiri journalist AuqibJaveed by police as alarming and blatant abuse of power, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) on Tuesday demanded immediate action against the accused officers.
Auqib, an accredited journalist with Kashmir Observer, was verbally summoned by the Cyber Police station on September 18 over his story titled, ‘The real cyberbully: Police in Kashmir question Twitter Users’ which appeared in ‘Article 14” a New Delhi based web portal.
According to Auqib, he was slapped twice by a masked cop outside the room of Superintendent of Police of the Cyber Wing, Tahir Ashraf Bhatii when he was on way to meet the officer on Saturday. The SP, he said had also hurled choicest abuses at him.
Taking to its official handle, ICJ wrote “Reports that journalist @AuqibJaveed was slapped and harassed by @JmuKmrPolice are alarming and a blatant abuse of power. Police should immediately take action against all officers involved and stop retaliating against critical reporting,”
Reports that journalist @AuqibJaveed was slapped and harassed by @JmuKmrPolice are alarming and a blatant abuse of power. Police should immediately take action against all officers involved and stop retaliating against critical reporting.#pressfreedomhttps://t.co/OQdcuy1jwo
— CPJ Asia (@CPJAsia) September 21, 2020
This is not the first time state forces; especially the police is under sharp criticism over the attacks on the journalists. Before Aqib, police had slapped stringent charges against several journalists for their writings critical of government policies.
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