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Bhubaneswar: Two employees of Esplanade shopping mall were arrested on Sunday on the charges of misbehaving and thrashing a woman journalist and her cameraperson. The arrests were made after journalists staged a dharna in front of the shopping mall protesting the attack. Later in the day, Sales Manger of the mall, Shyama Jha was also arrested.
According to reports, the woman journalist Swati Jena was attacked by some staff of the shopping mall when she had gone to cover a story regarding illegal collection of parking fees in the mall. The staff allegedly misbehaved and thrashed Jena along with her video journalist. Both of them were also allegedly locked inside a room.
Journalist & cameraman of a web channel allegedly abused & thrashed by some employees of a shopping mall at Rasulgarh in #Bhubaneswar. Police say action will be taken after probe #Odisha pic.twitter.com/qvZsIEy4qT
— OTV (@otvnews) December 28, 2019
Condemning the incident, Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Sahoo said that, “Two persons have been arrested and further probe is on by an additional DCP.”
#Listen to what #Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Sahoo says on the attack on a woman journalist allegedly by some staff of Esplanade shopping mall in Bhubaneswar #Odisha #ThrottlingMedia #AttackOnWomanScribe pic.twitter.com/ZLgU0jtfuH
— OTV (@otvnews) December 29, 2019
Earlier, Sahoo held discussion with the journalists who were staging a dharna in front of the Esplanade mall protesting the incident and demanding strict laws for the protection of working journalists.
“If the State government considers media as the fourth pillar of democracy then it should give protection to working journalists,” said senior journalist, Akshay Sahu.
'Attack' on woman journalist by Esplanade shopping mall staff in #Bhubaneswar. #LISTEN to what senior journalists say on the incident #Odisha #ThrottlingMedia pic.twitter.com/0iwEhJs1vP
— OTV (@otvnews) December 29, 2019
Senior journalist Radhamadhab Mishra said, “The way the woman journalist was thrashed is condemnable. It is not for the first time that such allegations have been levelled against the mall authorities as woman journalist of OTV was also earlier misbehaved by the mall staff.”
Senior journalist Prasanna Mohanty said, “Journalists of Odisha are united and we want police to take stern action against the accused.”
Condemning the incident, Congress leader Satya Nayak said, "Security guard and lower level employees are being arrested instead of the CEO. This proves that police is there only for the privileged and not for the common man and journalists."
Similarly, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said, "This is an extremely unfortunate incident. The State government should come forward and implement the laws to bring the main culprits to book."
