DCP (South) Akash Magharia also asked the journalist for her vaccination certificate.
The deputy commissioner of the Kolkata police (South) asked a journalist for her "character certificate", according to a video posted on social media today. Top cop Akash Magharia also asked the journalist for her vaccination certificate, told her to go to the police station to get it checked, and asked what she would be reporting on.
The media must be free and fair, uninfluenced by corporate or state interests. That's why you, the public, need to pay to keep news free.
ContributeAccording to a PTI journalist, the interaction took place on Kolkata's Harish Chatterjee Street, where chief minister Mamata Banerjee lives. It's a high security area and the BJP had claimed today that the party was not being allowed to campaign there.
The journalist from the video, who is unidentified, had asked Magharia a question. He refused to answer. When asked if he was refusing to answer the media, he demanded the journalist's "character certificate" and "vaccination certificate".
The journalist responded that she had a copy of the certificates on her phone and would show them to him. Magharia then asked what she would report on, and told her to go to a police station to get her certificates checked.
Several journalists tweeted that Magharia's comments were "shameful" and "unexpected".
General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans together to focus on the issues that really matter to the voter. From political funding to battleground states, media coverage to 10 years of Modi, choose a project you would like to support and power our journalism.
Ground reportage is central to public interest journalism. Only readers like you can make it possible. Will you?