Hindustan reporter assaulted while recording video of campus violence

The police are looking for two suspects and have held two accused for allegedly assaulting and looting Hindustan reporter Pramod Dalakoti at a private college in Haldwani.

Dalakoti was thrashed, and his spectacles and other belongings looted while he was trying to record a video of students engaging in assault at the MBPG college’s entrance on Saturday, according to Hindustan.

According to the Hindustan report, it all started with an argument between some student union leaders and members of the Parivartan Kami Chhatra Sangathan, another students’ outfit, over an event to pay tribute to freedom fighter Bhagat Singh on his anniversary on Saturday. These members of the Parivartan Kami Chhatra Sangathan were assaulted, and as Dalakoti tried to record the incident on his phone, he was allegedly beaten up.

A section of the students protested after an FIR was lodged against four students on Dalakoti’s complaint, according to ETV Bharat.

A few students held a protest on the highway and reportedly misbehaved with another journalist while protesting at the Kotwali police station on Sunday. Police officials present on the spot then took journalists to a safe spot, away from the angry crowd.

The college’s vice-chancellor NS Bankoti reportedly said, “Students spreading anarchy inside and outside the college have been identified…Those vitiating the college’s environment will be booked.”

According to ETV Bharat, Haldwani circle officer Nitin Lohani said that the police are probing the matter.