Police Assault Maktoob Journalists While Covering Waqf Protest In Kozhikode (Image: Facebook.com/aslah.kayyalakkath)
Kozhikode, Kerala: During a protest march against the controversial Waqf Amendment Act near Calicut International Airport, police resorted to lathi charges and water cannon to disperse the crowd. Reporters from news portal Maktoob Media were on the site to cover the demonstration. Notably, while confronting the protesters, police allegedly assaulted two journalists from the news portal – Shakeeb KPA and Sahid Faris, in which both sustained injuries.
Speaking to Timeline, Maktoob photojournalist, and one of the two victims of the police assault, Shakeeb, said the police were acting deliberately against them despite being aware that they were media professionals who came to the site to cover the protest.
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“We have every identification – the camera and other equipment. But, they (police) slapped us,” Shakeeb lamented, adding that they were just doing their work as journalists.
The journalist further said that they are pondering legal options against the police personnel involved in the assault. In a statement issued on Thursday, April 10 by Maktoob founder and editor Aslah Kayyalakkath, the media house demanded “strict action” against the perpetrators involved in the assault against its journalists.
Describing the scenario, the media house said that the journalists from the news portal suffered injuries when the police assaulted them during the lathi charge at the Waqf protest site while they were reporting from the ground on April 9.
Maktoob noted that both journalists were on professional duty, “clearly identified with press ID cards and camera equipment,” when they were assaulted by the police. “Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of democracy. “Violence against journalists in the line of duty is an attack on media freedom and a shameful abuse of power by the state,” the statement stressed, while seeking action against the assaulters.
“Justice must be delivered—not just for our colleagues, but for the right of every journalist to report without coercion,” the statement from Maktoob added.
