PANAJI
Director General of Police (DGP) Alok Kumar, IPS, is expected to order a probe into the incident at Margao on Saturday night where policemen assaulted The Goan photo-journalist with a cane in a confrontation where the latter wanted footage of the cane charge against protesters demanding Subhash Velingkar’s arrest, destroyed or deleted.
The incident occurred in Margao on Saturday night when police resorted to a cane charge on the protesters who had blocked the main road through the day.
Meanwhile, journalist organisations on Sunday slammed the police who on Saturday had assaulted The Goan photo-journalist Santosh Mirajkar during the late night cane charge on a small group of protesters who had blocked the road through the day while they were dispersing.
The Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) said it strongly condemns the assault and manhandling of Mirajkar of The Goan Everyday by on-duty police personnel during the Margao protests.
GUJ said in a statement that the assault happened when a majority of the protesters had left, police resorted to a cane charge to disperse the remaining few when two policemen asked Niraj Bandekar, another cameraman, to delete his footage of the cane charge.
“When photojournalist Santosh Mirajkar intervened and questioned the police over their demand to delete the footage, the photojournalist was hit by lathis by the policemen, despite Mirajkar proving his identity.
“This is a direct attack on the freedom of the press. The action of the police is highly condemnable,” GUJ president Rajtilak Naik said.
The GUJ has demanded immediate suspension of the concerned policemen and a thorough investigation in the matter.
