South Asia Human Rights Journalist Association

Srinagar, Friday, 25 November 2011: Three journalists including An Associated Press cameraman were thrashed by police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and another was detained while covering protests in the Srinagar city, today.

Shahid Tantray, a photojournalist working for Dainik Bhaskar, was arrested at Nowhatta police station while he was covering a protest in the old city.

Nowhatta police station SHO Iqbal Shah confirmed Tantray was detained during protests.

Two photojournalists and a video journalist were admitted to a hospital after they were thrashed by police and CRPF personnel while they were covering the protests in Saraf Kadal locality of the city.

Umer Mehraj, who works as a video journalist for Associated Press Televison News (APTN), Yawar Kabli and Showkat Shafi -- both freelance photojournalists, were rushed to Soura Institute of Medical Sciences hospital Soura after suffering bouts of vomitting.

Umar Meraj who was covering a strike Friday was beaten for several minutes by Indian paramilitary forces using rifle butts, batons, fists and a barrage of kicks, according to Meraj and other witnesses.Local journalists have repeatedly complained of harassment and assaults by police in the disputed territory. Meraj was assaulted by police at a checkpoint in its main city of Srinagar last year 2011 along with his father, Meraj Uddin Dar, also an AP journalist.

Talking to media men over the phone from hospital, one of the injured journalists said, they were ruthlessly beaten by CRPF and police while parking a motorcycle.

"There was a protest and just when we reached there and were parking our motorcycle, police and CRPF started ruthlessly beating us with sticks and rifle butts," the injured photojournalist said.

Protests had erupted in parts of Srinagar's old city after Syed Ali Geelani had called for a shutdown and protests against the detention of minors in Kashmir valley today.

The injured journalist said the videocamera belonging to APTN's Mehraj was smashed by the police personnel.

Clashes broke out during a demonstration in downtown Srinagar and Meraj and two other journalists fled into an alley, the men said. Police and paramilitary forces entered the alley from both sides and began assaulting the journalists, Meraj said.

He fell to the floor and nearly lost consciousness during the assault, he said. Photographer Yawar Nazir, who said he was also beaten, said troops dragged Meraj back onto the main road where other security officials rushed to join in the assault. Freelance photographer Showkat Shafi was also beaten by security forces in the alley, the men said.

The forces also grabbed Meraj’s camera and hit it with their guns and batons as well, destroying it, Meraj said.

After the assault, Meraj was left battered and vomiting by the roadside, where an AP photographer found him. He was admitted to the hospital, where he underwent tests for internal injuries.

A fourth journalist covering the rally, a photographer for a Hindi newspaper, was assaulted by paramilitary forces in another area and then detained, according to witnesses.
In August 2011, two photojournalists, including a foreign national Narciso Contreras working for California-based Zuma Press were detained and beaten by the CRPF and police while they were covering a demonstration at the Nowhatta locality in the Old City.

In August, Shafi and a Mexican photographer said police beat and detained them while they were covering a street protest. Doctors confirmed the photographers were badly bruised. Reporters Without Borders accused paramilitary forces of beating up 12 journalists covering a demonstration last year.

Kashmir Photojournalists Association (KPA) has condemned the attack on the scribes.