Police says it was a mistaken identity 

Srinagar: Police Sunday detained and thrashed a reporter of a local English daily while he was covering protests in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.

Owais Farooqi, a reporter who works for English daily Kashmir Reader, said that he was detained by police when he was performing his professional duties in Gulshan Chowk in the district where protests were held against the killing of Gowhar Ahmad Dar, who was killed on Saturday in Srinagar outskirts here.

“Police thrashed me despite showing to them identity card. They were chasing protesters and they held me even though I told them I am a reporter with one newspaper,” he said, adding the police detained him in police station and beat him.

Senior Superintendent of Police Bandipora Shabir Choudary told KNS that it was a mistake by police to detain the reporter.

“Police was chasing protesters at the spot and they mistook the reporter as a protestor. He was neither holding  a camera nor any identity card. He was wearing pheran,” the SSP told KNS, refuting that police beat up the reporter.  

Journalists condemn thrashing of reporter

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Young Journalists Welfare Association (JKYJWA) has strongly condemned detaining and thrashing by police of a young reporter in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district

In a statement JKYJWA strongly condemned the thrashing by police of a young reporter. “It is an assault on freedom of press. Journalists report truth. But in conflict truth is the first casualty. Earlier, police and security forces have beaten up journalists as per their will. And without any action against those police men who thrash and detain journalists,” the statement of the association said.

The young journalists demanded a fair probe into the thrashing of the reporter and action from the police against its men who detained and thrashed him. (KNS)