Times Now reporter arrested by Punjab Police; ‘blatant attack’ on media freedom, say press bodies

The Editors Guild of India and the Chandigarh Press Club on Saturday said that the arrest of Times Now journalist Bhawana Kishore by the Punjab Police was a “blatant attack” on press freedom.

On Friday, the police arrested Kishore, her colleague Mrityunjay Kumar and another man Parminder Singh in Ludhiana for allegedly knocking down a woman with their speeding car and verbally abusing her.

The incident happened when Kishore was on her way to cover the inauguration of Aam Aadmi mohalla clinics in Ludhiana by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann.

“The police were clearing the area when the accident happened,” Ludhiana Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Rupinder Kaur Sra told The Indian Express. “The CM’s cavalcade was arriving so we told both the parties to clear the road. They were trying to reach a compromise but it did not happen. An FIR [first information report] was registered after the other woman filed a complaint.”

The complainant alleged that after the accident, the three accused persons entered into an altercation with her and made derogatory caste-based remarks about her, reported the newspaper.

Three of them have been booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and Sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (hurting any...

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