A government medical college in Haryana’s Sonipat district has restricted the media’s entry into its premises as negative stories about the institute have rankled its director.

A few months ago, Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women was in the news when its student Manushi Chhillar bagged the crown of Miss World. Now, it’s making headlines for all the wrong reasons. First, it’s in the eye of a storm as a student has accused a professor of harassment. Secondly, barring journalists from entering the college is getting it more bad press.

On December 29, a day after local media broke the story about a professor reportedly harassing a student, a notice was put up on the college board. It reads: “No media person is allowed to enter in the casualty [sic] without prior permission of the authority.”

On January 2, when a reporter sought to question the college’s director Dr PS Ghalaut about the notice, he shot back and asked the reporter why he was creating a scene. The reporter recorded a video of the incident on his smartphone.

The video, which is doing the rounds on the internet, shows the director telling a security guard: “Inko pakad ke baahar nikaal do. Inko dikhta nahi hai.” (Get him out of here. He can’t see.)

Also, it shows the director not only snubbing the reporter, but also asking his subordinates not to share any information with journalists.

The local journalist community was miffed with the director from December 29 itself, when the aforesaid notice was put up barring the media’s entry and interaction with patients. Tuesday’s incident filled them with indignation and evoked strong reactions.

On Wednesday, members of Gohana Press Club presented a memorandum to the sub-divisional magistrate. Addressed to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the state’s ministers for health and education, it described Tuesday’s incident and stated that the director misbehaved with a member of the journalist community and attacked the freedom of the press by denying them entry into the college.

Members of Gohana Press Club with the memorandum.

In the memorandum, the journalists have requested that action be taken against Dr Ghalaut to protect the freedom of the press. Also, they have demanded that the director tender a public apology for misbehaving with the journalist community. The strongly worded memorandum’s last sentence says “members of Gohana Press Club will boycott all government events and press releases until action is taken against Dr Ghalaut and he apologises”.

Bone of contention

Sunil Jindal, who works with the electronic media in Sonipat, explained that a Kashmiri student had accused a faculty member of the medical college of mental harassment. The victim’s brother had written an email to the vice-chancellor of Rohtak’s University of Health Sciences (to which the college is affiliated), saying a professor started harassing his sister when she could not attend classes owing to violence in Kashmir.

Yazuvinder Mehra, a Sonipat-based reporter who writes for a vernacular newspaper, said he covers the health beat and thus visits the hospital regularly. “To our shock, the security guards asked me to read the diktat on the notice board barring mediapersons. When I enquired, we were told no other person was permitted to let them go in except the director,” Mehra said.

The reporter said he contacted the medical superintendent, Dr Mehar Singh Punia, who told him that only Dr Ghalaut could comment on this issue and that everyone else had been directed not to speak with the media.

Explaining the gag on journalists, Dr Ghalaut told 101Reporters that local publications exaggerate the issues. He said mediapersons come to the medical college, speak with patients in the casualty ward and spread unnecessary panic through their reportage. He said due judgment should be exercised before highlighting any issue and the college’s version must also feature in any report concerning it. Further, he said reporters never write any positive story about the medical college and pursue only negative stories.

President of Rohtak Press Club Sunit Dhawan said the job of a journalist is to report the ground reality. He pointed out that the media is the fourth pillar of democracy and cannot be gagged, and said they would take up the matter with the chief minister.

Dr OP Kalra, vice-chancellor of University of Health Sciences, said the authorities cannot restrict the media in this manner. He added that he did not know about this case and would find out what transpired that led to the gag decision in the Sonipat college.