A CNN-IBN employee was attacked and his vehicle set on fire in Lucknow's Hazratganj area on Tuesday morning, the channel has said. The attack came two days after CNN-IBN exposed the unaccounted wealth of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. Four men with their faces covered dragged out two of the channel's employees from their vehicle and beat them up in broad daylight.
CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai condemned the attack on his news channel's staff. "We demand a full inquiry into the incident and want a judicial probe into the matter," he said in a statement. UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said the culprits would not be spared. Mayawati, meanwhile, has refused to talk to CNN-IBN after the attack.
According to the Indian Express, two of the channel's employees were beaten up outside PK Bhawan on Madan Mohan Malviya Road in the city at about 12:30 pm. One of them is said to have suffered serious head injuries. The news staff had gone to PK Bhawan to deposit telephone bills. While a third employee of the channel who was with them got off and went in, the two were trying to park the car when four youths attacked them with rods and hockey sticks.
''They were all well-built and in their early twenties. They seemed to be waiting there for us,'' the driver said. ''We tried to escape with the car as they attacked us, but one of them was carrying a can of petrol – he poured it on the car, torched it and they fled on their motorcycles. Before speeding off, they threatened us with dire consequences if the channel did not stop airing news against them. I could not take down the bike's registration number as they had pasted a piece of paper on the registration plate.''
Though a police station is located barely 100 metres from the spot, the police arrived only after the fire brigade officials had doused the flames. As the news spread, representatives of the electronic and print media gathered at the spot, and after SSP Ashutosh Pandey reached there, they demanded prompt action in the case.
Calling it an ''unfortunate incident'', Pandey said, ''We had received reports from the channel that they had been receiving such threats for the past couple of days. Though we had provided security at their office in Charan Hotel here, it's possible that someone kept a round-the-clock vigil on their movements and informed the fellows who were waiting here.'' District Magistrate RN Tripathi also reached the spot and assured the journalists of prompt action against the miscreants.
Senior editor CNN-IBN, Sagarika Ghose, according to a report in Hindustan Times, called the "attack shocking" and a direct "assault on press freedom". Terming it as a "blatant example of political goondaism," she asked: "Why should young reporters and camerapersons be threatened with murder for simply doing their job?" Ghose said the channel's report on the "illegal wealth that Mayawati has amassed was a sourced story and we have all the supporting documents.
You cannot beat up somebody if they do a story that does not suit your interest. This is not the first time that BSP workers have attacked the media,. "For the moment we have moved our correspondent to a safe house. We have also arranged security for our Lucknow and Noida offices."
The Editors Guilds of India condemned the attack. It said, "The violent attack on the staff of CNN-IBN in Lucknow on Tuesday afternoon is yet another instance of wanton assault on the media and a brutal attempt to subjugate freedom by fear." The guild demanded that "the state government finds the guilty so that they can face exemplary justice and ensure that the free voice of media is never shackled."
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) denounced the attack. "This deplorable assault on mediapersons is an unacceptable violation of press freedom, and must be condemned in the most severe terms. "Violence and coercion cannot be used to silence the media. Media persons must be allowed to perform their professional duties in an atmosphere free from intimidation, " said IFJ President Christopher Warren, calling for immediate action against the culprits.
Earlier on Monday, Mayawati had threatened to take legal action against the news channel over the report aired two days earlier. She has demanded Rs 10 crore as damages for what she has termed a 'false report'. CNN-IBN's investigation, based on documents submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the court, showed how Mayawati owns much more assets than her known income.
CNN-IBN had tracked down Mayawati's bank accounts. The investigation also tracked down her commercial establishments, including a farmhouse in New Delhi and acres of agricultural land in Bulandshahr in western Uttar Pradesh. Documents available with CNN-IBN showed that assets in Mayawati's name were 300 per cent more than her declared income. Assets belonging to her relatives, which in turn have been linked to her, stand at 700 per cent more than her declared income.
