It’s part of the course”, India Today journalist Preeti Choudhry was heard normalising the harassment meted out at her colleague in the hands of anti-farm law protesters in Muzaffarnagar on Sunday, September 5.
When BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who was a panellist on Preeti Choudhry’s debate show, expressed displeasure with how these so-called farmers had harassed Choudhry’s own colleague during the Muzaffarnagar Kisan Mahapanchayat event, the India Today anchor, rather than condemning the harassment, says that such incidents are common and she has faced them as well.
:@IndiaToday female anchor normalising/defending women harassment over what happened to her @aajtak colleague at Muzaffarnagar Kisan Mahapanchayat.pic.twitter.com/qnmrD9O0mh
— Nupur Sharma (@NupurSharmaBJP) September 7, 2021
“Since you have raised my colleague’s situation, she is a reporter, I am a reporter on the ground as well. This is part of the course. This happens everywhere, wherever you go. It happens in Mahapanchayats and in political rallies as well”, said India Today journalist Preeti Choudhry, justifying and normalising the behaviour meted out to AajTak editor Chitra Tripathi at Muzaffarnagar Kisan Mahapanchayat.
AajTak journalist Chitra Tripathi was harassed by anti-farm law protesters in Muzaffarnagar on Sunday, September 5, where they gathered around her and chanted ‘Godi media haay haay’. Ultimately, the journalist, who had gone to cover the event, was chased away from the spot.
During the conversation, Nupur Sharma interjects, attempting to remind Preeti Choudhry that she, too, is a woman and that normalising harassment against women is despicable, but Choudhry persists in defending the ‘farmers’ heinous behaviour, claiming that it is normal for journalists to face such situations.
When Nupur Sharma sternly demands to know which woman journalist has been ever harassed during any past Mahapanchayat events, Preeti Choudhry quickly dismisses the question saying that the debate is not about her colleague.
“My colleague has gone there, done her work, and will do it again without passing judgement on any political rally or Mahapanchayat,” Choudhry remarked.
Incidentally, only two days ago, a ‘journalist’ with Newsclick, Shyam Meera Singh, had also justified the atrocious conduct, accusing Chitra Tripathi of ‘fooling’ the public.
Throughout the protests, anti-farm law demonstrators have been engaging in vile behaviour on a regular basis. On Republic Day, the protests turned violent, resulting in riots in the nation’s capital. Interestingly, it was Preeti Choudhry herself who had revealed that a “sizable chunk of depraves” among the farmer protesters had been harassing female reporters, pinching their buttocks among other things.
A woman from West Bengal was also raped at the Tikri border protest site. After the death of the victim on April 30, the protesters had taken out a procession by placing the dead body in an open jeep, even though she allegedly died of Covid-19.
