The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international media watchdog, has called on the Jammu and Kashmir police to take immediate action against all officers involved in the alleged assault of a Kashmiri journalist. The CPJ also asked the police to “stop retaliating against critical reporting.”
Earlier, Auqib Javed, a Kashmiri journalist, was summoned by the police after he reported a story on the police crackdown on Twitter users. Last month, The Kashmir Walla had exclusively reported that the crackdown by the police on Twitter users is making them “vanish” from the platform.
Mr. Javed alleged that he was beaten and abused by the police officials and his phone tampered inside the police station. Mr. Javeed who wrote a story titled “The Real Cyber Bully: Police In Kashmir Question Twitter Users” has said that he was first slapped by masked policeman in the compound of cyber police station and then later abused by Superintendent of Police, Incharge of the police’s cyber cell Tahir Bhatti for the story.
The CPJ tweeted: “Reports that journalist @AuqibJaveed was slapped and harassed by @JmuKmrPolice are alarming and a blatant abuse of power. Police should immediately take action against all officers involved and stop retaliating against critical reporting.”
