Kottayam: Women journalists were heckled and told to leave the main venue of the MG University Arts Fest 'We, The People of India' while reporting an organisational failure that left a group of participants in tears.
The incident occurred around 7 pm on Friday at the Thirunakkara Maidanam venue named 'Secular'. A music player provided by the organisers malfunctioned while a team from NSS College, Konni was performing 'Folk Dance' at the venue.
The participants did not stop and performed despite the setback. They were encouraged by the audience in a show of solidarity.
After the performance, when the team returned backstage, most of the participants were reduced to tears while their college mates blamed the organisers for the mishap.
Onmanorama reporter and another woman journalist went backstage to seek a response from the aggrieved students. It was a melee backstage. "Shouldn't they guarantee the technical side while hosting a Kalolsavam. It was not our fault," said a member of the team. "They used some 15-year-old MP3 player and it stopped midway," said Akash, a student of NSS College Konni, who was backstage.
Meanwhile, a group of the organisers, also comprising men, told the journalists to exit backstage. Later, some of the organisers heckled the group of journalists and demanded that they delete the footage of students' complaints about the music player malfunction. When the journalists refused, the men urged them to leave the venue.
