India Today cameraman covering tractor rally hit by stones, injured

An India Today cameraperson whom the TV news channel only identified as Dinesh was injured when he was caught in a clash between protesting farmers and the Delhi police at ITO.

“My cameraperson Dinesh has been hurt,” the news channel’s reporter on the ground, Ankit Tyagi, said, adding that the protesters had thrown a steel rod at him, while Dinesh was hit in his stomach and leg by stones. “This is a steel rod, it was one of the dividers that was broken by the farmers. It’s a steel rod that was hurled at me. Dinesh has been hit by a stone in his stomach. Is this the kind of protest that was promised by the farmers?”

He also said a teargas shell fired by the police had exploded right behind him.

In a live report from the spot, he argued that 60 days of peaceful protests by farmers had been ruined by “anti-social elements that joined in the last three or four days and who want to ‘liberate Delhi’.” “I must also say that, initially, the police also used a lot of force that agitated the farmers,” he added.

He described the situation he was watching unfold as “life threatening”. It was “free for all, it is a battleground,” he added.

A video aired by India Today shows the reporter and the cameraman running away as tractors circle at high speed to try and disperse the police and make way for the rally. Since teargas was being used by the police, Ankit added that it was difficult to breathe and see.

Update: In a separate incident, India Today reported its reporter Arvind Ojha and a cameraperson identified only as Vakar were attacked by the protesting farmers. Vakar was injured and sent for treatment.

Rajdeep Sardesai, the channel’s primetime anchor, was heckled by a crowd of farmers who refused to speak to him and shouted, “Aap Godi media ho.”