On 27 June 1997, police assaulted Surinder Singh Oberoi, the correspondent for Agence France-Presse in Srinagar, as he and about twenty other local journalists had gathered in front of the United Nations Military Observers Group office in Srinagar. They intended to cover a demonstration by the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference which was protesting the authorities' refusal to allow them to hold a rally in Iqbal Park.
While the journalists were waiting for the protestors to congregate, about twenty Jammu and Kashmir police officers began beating three women who had emerged from a nearby mosque shouting Kashmiri separatist slogans. Oberoi directed his photographer to take pictures of the women, whom police had beaten to the ground, kicked, and were attempting to take into custody. Upon doing so, he was approached by the Srinagar Superintendent of Police, Mubariq Ganai, who questioned him about what he was doing. Oberoi explained that he was exercising his profession as a journalist. Ganai then began beating him with a stick. Ganai was promptly joined by his personal security officers and several policemen, numbering about a dozen in all. They beat Oberoi repeatedly on the head and shoulders, until the other journalists present successfully pleaded with them to stop.
Later that afternoon, about fifty local journalists, including Oberoi, marched to the government secretariat building in Srinagar to protest the attack on Oberoi. Although they had press accreditation cards, they were denied permission to enter. The police stationed at the main gate attempted to disperse the journalists by firing teargas canisters and leading a baton charge against them. About twenty journalists sustained minor injuries in the incident, and one, Zafar Meraj of Hong Kong-based Zee Television, was briefly hospitalized for inhalation of teargas. The journalists remained outside the building for two hours, until they were granted a personal audience with Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to press accounts and journalists interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Chief Minister Abdullah apologized for the police misconduct and promised to order an inquiry into the two attacks. However, he also faulted the journalists for having an allegedly pro-separatist bias.
