New Delhi :
The News Broadcasters Association on Wednesday strongly condemned the reported attack on media persons and breaking of their equipment during the coverage of the tractor rally taken out by farmers protesting against new farm laws.
In a statement, the NBA said it is of the opinion that both the print and electronic media have been covering the farmers’ protests on the outskirts of Delhi in a ”fair, balanced and objective manner during the last two months”.
The NBA ”strongly condemns the deplorable attack on media persons and breaking of their equipment, during the coverage of the tractor rally taken out yesterday by farmers in Delhi in protest against the new farm laws”, the statement said.
The NBA wants to state that the media persons who were covering Tuesday’s tractor rally were performing their professional duty of collecting information and disseminating them to the public at large, and any use of force and violence against them tantamount to throttling the voice of democracy and the freedom of media, the statement said.
The NBA demanded that ”persons or hooligans” responsible for the attack on the journalists and camerapersons must be identified and booked under law because these elements were obstructing media persons from performing their professional duties and were trampling upon their rights as enshrined in the Constitution.
Tens of thousands of farmers broke barriers to storm the national capital as their tractor parade to highlight their demand of repealing the laws dissolved into unprecedented scenes of anarchy.
Deviating from the designated route for the tractor parade, protesting farmers also hoisted flags from some domes as well as the flagpole at the Red Fort.
