‘Why did they ask us to cover the event if they wanted to assault us?’

For the last 12 years, 34-year-old Shajila Ali Fathima been reporting on various issues as a video journalist for Kairali TV, a television channel owned by the CPI(M), the ruling party in the state. Her job takes her to various stories—from inaugural events to agitations to tense political stand-offs amid scenes of resistance and protest.

Shajila was one of the few women journalists who reported the “infamous” brawl from the Kerala Legislative Assembly when the then ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) was prevented by the CPI(M)-led Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) from presenting the budget for the financial year 2015-2016. The incident was the denouement of the Bar Scam featuring the then finance minister KM Mani. Given her body of work, Shajila comes from that category of journalists which has witnessed the skulduggery in Kerala’s murky coalition politics over the last decade.

On the evening of January 2, a phone call from the organisers of the Sabarimala Action Committee (SAC) told her that something important was going to happen at the Secretariat entrance where Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were agitating against the LDF government’s police action at the Sabarimala shrine. Shajila had no doubts about the authenticity of the call. “The person who made the call was known to me and being in the profession, they had helped us by giving advance information about protest rallies being staged in the capital city,” she told Newslaundry.

Following the lead, she rushed to the Secretariat where the BJP’s state vice-president N Sivarajan was on a fast as part of the party’s protest against the government for providing police security to women devotees of menstrual age who wanted to enter the shrine after the September 28 Supreme Court verdict.

Shajila says the situation was “tense” when she reached with her team. “Activists of the SAC were vandalising the flex boards installed around the Secretariat premises while some of them were pelting vehicles and passers-by with stones. It was a scene not to be missed and we began to film. I could film some of the shots of the activists destroying boards and pelting stones.”

Shajila’s assistant was holding the mic. “Out of the corners of my eyes, I could see camerapersons of other channels being hit violently by the protesters. They were shouting derogatory slogans, abusing us, and ordering us to get out from the scene. Suddenly, I could feel someone hitting the back of my neck with enormous force.” Shajila’s immediate concern was for her camera, which costs more than ₹8 lakh, so she says her priority was to guard the equipment.

“But they hit and kicked me with such a force that I lost control and the camera was pushed down by them. Meanwhile, the mic, which cost ₹50,000, was snatched by one of the attackers who broke it into two pieces.”

Shajila now wears a neck collar to bear the “excruciating” pain.

Sangh Parivar leaders expressed regret over the incident, Shajila says. But she adds, “But what is the purpose? Why did they ask us to be present at the venue and cover the event if it was to physically assault us?” She says she has no grievances against those who assaulted her. “It is all part of the game. But the assaulters should understand that we went to the scene to highlight their plight.”

‘Punished’ for taking their job seriously

New Delhi, the national capital, was no different in the treatment meted out to video journalists. Thursday saw three video journalists working with Malayalam news channels getting beaten up at Kerala House on Janpath. AV Mukesh of Mathrubhumi News, PS Arun of 24 News and KP Dhanush of News 18 were at the receiving end of the protesters’ ire.

Mukesh says by noon, SAC activists known to the journalists telephoned them to inform them about the protest march planned at Kerala House that evening as part of the hartal call against the entry of women in Sabarimala. “They told us that the protest demonstration and rally was scheduled for 6 pm. We reached the spot by 5.15 pm and got ready for the action. The rally began at 6.45 pm and there were only 20-25 persons in the rally.”

Mukesh, who has eight years of experience in the field, says the protest rallies staged by SAC activists usually see chants of “Swamiye Saranam”. This time, however, the handful of protesters shouted: “D** Pinarayi, go out and get out”.

“But we kept recording the event. When they reached the entrance of Kerala House, they burnt an effigy of Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister. This was unexpected and shocking. Once the effigy was burnt, they started pelting stones at Kerala House. At that instant, the CRPF swung into action and caught hold of one of the stone-pelters. He was hauled by the cops towards a Gypsy parked nearby and was thrashed. We saw a lady from the crowd running towards the car. She flung herself over him, pleading with the police not to assault him. We filmed the entire sequence in the hope that if the person gets injured seriously in the attack, these visuals would stand as documentary evidence for him.”

Mukesh says what happened next took him and the others by surprise. “The man who was released by the cops started attacking us. Arun and Dhanush, my counterparts from other channels, were assaulted and their cameras, too, were damaged in the melee. The persons who had interacted with us in the past continued assaulting us and abusing us using the filthiest language.”

According to Mukesh, this was the “prize” they got for being prompt in attending to their calls and filming the event. Clearly shaken, he says, “The person nabbed by the police was drunk. I can vouch for that. But, please tell me, why should we be attacked like this?”

Mukesh recalls some of the assaulters accusing them as being “part of the Marxist gang”. He says, “Please remember that such accusations do not have any face value. Had we been the Marxists as they claim, why would we rush to their events whenever they call us?”

Media at receiving end

The general feeling among media people is that the Sangh Parivar leadership should take steps to control their activists and brief them on how to interact with the media.

“If they have any differences of opinion with the management, let them resolve the issue with them and not with us, who are always on the field, covering events for the viewers irrespective of caste, creed and political affiliations,” says Mukesh.

There were instances of many media persons coming under attack during Thursday’s Kerala hartal called by the SAC. This prompted the media fraternity in the state to boycott the two press briefings called by PS Sreedharan Pillai and K Surendran, the president and general secretary, respectively, of the Kerala BJP, and another press conference called by KP Sasikala, president of SAC.

While it stands true that the Sangh Parivar needs to reassess its approach towards the media, it alone can’t be blamed for what happened in Kerala on January 2-3. There are forces in the media who pursue their own agenda. The recent past has seen the media coming under similar attacks from the CPI(M) as well as the Muslim League.

Shahjahan, an Asianet reporter, was physically assaulted by some hotheads belonging to the CPI(M). This was followed by a telephonic threat he received from P Jayarajan, the Kannur district secretary of the CPI(M).

CM Pinarayi Vijayan too could not wash his hands off charges of high-handedness. The whole of Kerala saw live visuals of the CM shouting at media persons to leave the venue of a meeting where the former was scheduled to meet RSS leaders of the state. The prime-time discussions aired by news channels—which are often anchored by former student leaders of the Left-leaning fronts—have a discernible Marxist flavour, which calls for a tone down to keep journalistic etiquette intact.

(Kumar Chellappan is a Kochi-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)