Delhi Police has refuted claims of The Quint reporter Meghnad Bose that Muslim journalists were detained by Delhi Police while they were on the ground covering The Hindu Mahapanchayat event in Delhi. On Sunday, Bose had claimed that Police had taken him into custody including ‘four other Muslim journalists’ after they were ‘assaulted’ by a Hindu mob at the event.
The Hindu Mahapanchayat event was organised by Save India Foundation at Buradi ground in Delhi on Sunday. Poster of the event which details agenda of the meet demands resolution on issues like freeing temples from government control, the bill on banning forced religious conversions, Uniform Civil Code, etc. Quint Journalist Meghnad Bose who claims to have reported the event informed that Muslim Journalists named Meer Faisal and Mohd Meharban were ‘assaulted’ by a Hindu Mob at the event. He also termed the gathering as an ‘anti-muslim hate speech event’ taking place in Delhi.
Furthermore, Bose claimed that He and four other journalists who happened to be Muslims were detained by Delhi Police. As noted by him on Twitter, all the journalists were detained by the Delhi Police in a police vehicle.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, North-West Delhi was quick to state facts to refute Meghnad Bose’s claims. She tweeted, “Some of the reporters, willingly, on their own free will, to evade the crowd which was getting agitated by their presence, sat in PCR Van stationed at the venue and opted to proceed to Police Station for security reasons. No one was detained. Due police protection was provided.” According to DCP North-West Delhi, The allegations of ‘assault’ as claimed by Bose were when Hindu activists objected to the presence of the journalists, in what happened to be an overtly ‘Hindu’ function.
Moreover, the DCP stated that police protection was provided to the journalists when they willingly climbed the Police van for protection. While no journalists during the event were detained by the Police, as claimed by Bose, the DCP said that due necessary action shall be initiated against those for spreading misinformation. If it is to be noted, Meghnad Bose from the Quint was earlier accused under #MeToo charges in 2018, when a woman accused him of indulging into misappropriate behaviour while she was under the influence of alcohol.
Interestingly, after Meghnad Bose made the allegations on Twitter, the official Twitter handle of Pakistan Consulate General Vancouver replied to him with tagging several Twitter accounts. The official Pakistani didn’t include any comment in the reply, but tagged official accounts of Human Rights bodies, UN, EU etc.