On Sunday, Chandigarh Tribune carry a story that claimed Deputy Commissioner Gauri Parasher Joshi was left to “fend for herself” after the Dera followers took to violence following conviction of Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2002 rape case.
The headline on the web story has since been changed, but the epaper carries the original headline which claims that after being outnumbered by the rampaging Dera followers, Haryana Police fled the spot, leaving Parasher Joshi to fend for herself. The report claims that it was her experience of having served in Naxal-affected district of Kalahandi in Odisha that helped her save her life and the situation too.
Nowhere in the article does it have a quote from the officer where she claims that the Haryana Police abandoned her amidst the violent crowd.
A vigilant Twitter user and an IPS officer himself, Hemant Pandey, tweeted a video where it seems that the police is trying to shield her and escort her to safety from the unruly mob.
Panchkula.. Was she really left alone by cops to fend for herself. We might have failed but r not cowards #cuttingedgelies pic.twitter.com/mMiaoFaeQ8
— hemant pandey (@hemantp83) August 27, 2017
He further clarifies that the police in the video aren’t really ‘escaping’ but taking cover from the stone-pelting mob.
There is something called taking cover. People raining stones.. U don’t stand there take cover and then retaliate
— hemant pandey (@hemantp83) August 28, 2017
He even explains how truth gets distorted by partial reporting.
And when media plays entire episodes in parts real picture gets distorted
— hemant pandey (@hemantp83) August 28, 2017
Perhaps we need to hear Parasher Joshi’s side of the story too on what exactly happened.