Mistreatment Of Indian Reporter In TX May Have Violated Rights: Press Club

WASHINGTON DC (ANI) – Emily Wilkins, the president of the National Press Club, issued a statement on the alleged assault of an Indian journalist by Congress workers in Dallas, Texas, and said it may have violated the First Amendment rights of the reporter.

This comes after media reports surfaced that a journalist, working with an Indian news channel, was manhandled by Congress workers in Dallas when he was conducting an interview with the Indian Overseas Congress chief.

The incident happened just before Rahul Gandhi landed in the US for a three-day visit, reports said.

Wilkins said that the said journalist, who is an NPC board member, interviewed India Overseas Congress chief, Sam Pitroda, and the interview was done in a “professional manner with agreed to recording.”

She further said that some members of IOC staff objected to the last question asked by the said journalist and stopped the interview, by allegedly pushing the reporter, taking away his phone and deleting files from it.

The National Press Club President further said that Pitroda later apologized to the journalist Rohit Sharma of India Today. She also emphasized that Pitroda “had no objection” to the question.

“Pitroda, who had been whisked to the airport to meet Gandhi, later apologized to Sharma. He had no objection to Sharma’s question and was in the process of answering when the audience erupted. Later in the week, Rahul Gandhi answered a similar question at a Press Club Newsmakers event in Washington,” the statement read.

She further asserted that the security staff must be aware that reporters working in the US are protected by the First Amendment, “regardless of the nationality” of the interview subject, reporter or security teams. She added that security team had no role in the interview and had no right to take away the reporter’s phone.