NEW DELHI: In an unpercented incident, press reporters and cameramen were assaulted and pushed around by security personnel at Rashtrapati Bhavan, marring the swearing in ceremony of the new cabinet.
Angry reporters and cameramen shouted “shame shame” and “down with Chandra Shekhar” both inside and outside the Ashok Hall as securitymen pushed them around,
A startled president, R Venkataraman, momentarily delayed the swearing in ceremony as the scuffle went on but then indicated to his secretary that the proceedings could begin. Many ministers their oaths in the backdrop of shouting and noise.
Some newspersons suffered minor injuries from broken glass panes of the doors leading to the hall. R M Dani, special correspondent of ‘Tarun Bharat’, who got a deep gash on his arm received five stitches in hospital.
Securitymen used batons to stop media men who tried to scale the parapet wall to get in. The media personnel were allowed in after Yashwant Sinha who had come to take oath as a cabinet minister, intervened.
However, chief of security at Rashtrapati Bhavan, denied allegations of assault and said late comers were stopped at the gate. There was no space inside and people could not be allowed when the function was on, he claimed.
Meanwhile, the press association demanded an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge into the “uncalled for Lathi charge on unarmed press persons” at Rashtrapati Bhavan Nov 21.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 30, 1990
