Advocates kick and slap cameraman of a news channel, which decides against filing a complaint against the attackers
After bringing the traffic in the city to a grinding halt for seven hours a month ago, the advocates on Thursday vented their anger against the media for portraying them as goons.
Some lawyers slapped and kicked a cameraman of a news channel at the city court complex, accusing the media of bringing disrepute to the lawyer fraternity through their coverage of last month’s protest. The cameraman, R Prasanna, said the incident took place at 4.30pm when he and a reporter went to the court complex to speak to an advocate regarding the Lokayukta raid on MLA M Krishnappa’s house. Prasanna said an advocate confronted him and slapped him in a fit of rage for daring to the advocates’ premises. “You people portrayed us as goons and now you have the guts to come to our area,” Prasanna quoted the advocate, adding that the man in the black coat started kicking him and yelling.
Prasanna said he ran for his life, but the advocate snatched his camera and tried to break it. At this moment, the reporter accompanying the cameraman requested the furious advocate to spare them, saying they would leave the court complex. As the duo rushed towards the exit gate, a group of lawyers who had gathered at the spot gave them a chase. The cameraman and the reporter managed to escape without suffering more humiliation.
Condemning the repeated attacks on presspersons, Bangalore Reporters’ Guild urged the government to take action against the perpetrators. Guild president KV Prabhakar said the attacks were posing a threat to the freedom of press. He said the recent incidents of the advocates’ high-handedness were making a mockery of the system.
Meanwhile, the management of the private channel decided not to file a complaint regarding the incident, stating this would only aggravate the problem.
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