Stones were pelted by rioters in Delhi at NDTV journalist Sreenivasan Jain when he reached Babarpur-Maujpur to report on the riots in the area. In a video clip from NDTV shared by Deepak Chaurasia, consulting editor of News Nation, Sreenivasan can be seen reporting about the Delhi riots and saying that stones were being pelted at him following which he retreated from his position. He said that the rioters did not want to be filmed.
प्रिय दोस्त! @SreenivasanJain !#ShaheenBagh पिटाई के वक्त आपने लिखा था मैं तो पत्रकार हूँ नहीं!लेकिन आप तो हैं!फिर CAA के ख़िलाफ़ प्रदर्शन कर रहे इन शांतिदूतों ने आप पर पत्थर क्यों बरसाएँ? हाँ अगर आप उनसे कहते कि आप रविश कुमार के चैनल से हैं तो आपका ये हाल नहीं होता !#DelhiBurns pic.twitter.com/82kmA3TH2X
— Deepak Chaurasia (@DChaurasia2312) February 26, 2020
Sreenivasan Jain says that members of the ‘minority community’ have gathered at the Jaffrabad area. When he says ‘minority community’, we can safely assume that he is not referring to Jains, Sikhs or Buddhists. He was referring to the Muslim community.
He said that the protesters don’t want to be filmed, and he assured them that they are not being recorded. After that, he got the camera point to the opposite direction, so that stone pelting by the mob is not captured, and after that moved away from the site.
“Already, some stones have starting to come so we are not going to film anymore. We will turn the camera to the other side, will we turn the camera and walk towards the other side, we are not going to get the crowd agitated”, Sreenivasan Jain says and moves away from the spot, conceding to the demands of the stone-pelting mob.
Deepak Chaurasia took a dig at the NDTV journalist reminding Sreenivasan Jain that he had claimed that Chaurasia was not a journalist when he was attacked by anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh.
Chaurasia asked him why were the ‘peaceful protesters’ pelting stones at him even though he is a ‘journalist’. Chaurasia went further and said that if Sreenivasan Jain had told the rioters that he was from the same channel as Ravish Kumar, then he would have been spared. Chaurasia was attacked by a mob at Shaheen Bagh on the 24th of January. Following the assault, attempts were made to justify the attack on him by usual suspects.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Delhi Police, Amulya Patnaik has said that normalcy is returning in riot-hit North-East Delhi to a large extent, and senior officers are on rounds and extra forces have been deployed in the area. He said things are being brought back to normal. Communal riots had erupted at the national capital causing great damage to life and property.