Journalists on Friday were caught between the opposing factions while covering the Ahmedabad Bandh called in memory of the two minor boys who had died under mysterious circumstances at the Asaram Ashram gurukul, the Indian Express has reported.
Half-a-dozen reporters and cameramen from the national and the local media, including a woman journalist for a national TV channel were attacked by angry supporters of Asaram. A couple of journalists were held hostage in the Ashram as an irate mob of supporters damaged the broadcast vans of two national news channels —Times Now and IBN 7.
Kuldeepsinh Kaler, a photographer with the Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar, who was taking pictures of Asaram Bapu's supporters beating up people who had called the bandh, was dragged inside the Ashram and beaten up for an hour. Kaler was later admitted to the Civil Hospital with severe injuries. "The attackers snatched Kaler's cellphone," said Pranav Dave, his colleague.
Gopi Maniyar, a correspondent with the national Hindi news channel AajTak was taken to SAL Hospital after she too was attacked by Ashram supporters. Times Now cameraman Maujudan Gadhvi was targeted by the same supporters and his camera was seized and smashed. In other incidents, ETV reporter Harsh Gajjar, TV9 cameraman and IBN7 OB Van engineer were also attacked. All the incidents happened outside the Asaram Bapu Ashram near Motera.
"The devotees inside turned upon us when they realised that we were filming them beating up people outside the Ashram. They kept on asking why you want to report against Asaram Bapu?†said Gopi.
She said the mob fled in an open truck, which came from the Ashram, after a police team reached the spot to rescue the battered and bruised mediapersons.
A cameraman from a local cable news network too was at the receiving end at Nirnaynagar, the residential neighbourhood of the two deceased boys, when a mob turned angry alleging that the media was being sympathetic to Asaram Bapu, said Monica Sharma, a journalist who was present on the spot.
