"The Karnataka Police treated us like criminals. We were denied of basic human rights," said Asianet News reporter Mujeeb Rahman, who spent eight harrowing hours in the police custody in Mangaluru on Friday.
Mujeeb and six other television journalists from Kerala were taken into custody while reporting on the death of two anti-Citizenship Act protesters, who were killed in police firing on Thursday night.
Asianet News cameraperson Pratheesh, 24 News reporter Anand, its cameraperson Renjith, MediaOne reporter Shabeer Omar, its cameraperson Aneesh and channel's vehicle driver Saliq were also taken into custody.
The journalists were in Mangaluru to report on the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests and the death of two protesters - Jaleel (49) and Nauseen (23) - who were killed in police firing on Thursday.
"I was reporting from the premises of Government Wenlock Hospital when the bodies of the deceased were brought for post-mortem. Police descended on the scene suddenly and demanded our identity cards. We duly obliged. Then they asked for the accreditation card issued by the Government of Kerala. Three of us showed it. The harassment did not end there. Soon they forcefully confiscated our cameras, phones and the equipment for live telecast. We were then dragged into the police van," he said.
Mujeeb said they were kept in the van for four hours. "We could see journalists from Kannada television channels and national television channels reporting from the hospital premises. When we screamed to seek their attention, the police asked us to shut up. We were not even allowed to speak to our fellow journalists," he said.
The police took Mujeeb and four others to the Mangaluru South Police Station at 12 noon.
"What happened today was an attack on media freedom. The police did not allow to discharge our duties." he said.
'We were told to sit on the floor'
MediaOne reporter Shabeer Omar, who was taken into custody from the Police Commissioner's office premises in Mangaluru, said the police asked them to sit on the floor of the van after taking them into custody. "Police mistreated us. They asked us (cameraman Aneesh and driver Saliq were with me) to sit on the floor of the vehicle though most of the seats were empty," he said.
"When we tried to stand up due to leg pain, they shouted at us to sit down on the floor," he said.
Shabeer said the police snatched their camera and mobile phones. "We went to Mangaluru to report on the protests and deaths. Why did they treat like this? This is a blatant attack on media freedom," he said.
The detainees' eight-hour-long ordeal ended at 4pm. After the release, the eight persons were taken to Kerala border town of Thalappady and handed over to Kerala Police.
Asianet News editor MG Radhakrishnan condemned the police action. "No recent incident dealt such a severe blow to democracy and media freedom. Actions of Karnataka Police are highly condemnable," he said in a statement.
