Leading Indian newsweekly attacked by hardliners
The CPJ (via) reports that the Mumbai office of the Indian weekly Outlook was attacked yesterday by a group of men who identified themselves as members of the Shiv Sena, a Hindu nationalist party. The assailants were apparently angered by the political journal’s depiction of their founder, Bal Thackeray, as a villain in the current issue of the magazine dedicated to India’s 60th anniversary of independence, according to an account of the incident published on the magazine’s Web site.
Six men forcibly entered the magazine’s offices at Raheja Chambers in the Nariman Point area of the city at around 3 p.m. and demanded to see the editor. When told he was not available, they proceeded to ransack the premises, smashing windows, computer equipment, and office furniture. No one was injured in the attack.
The Editor’s Guild has called it a direct attack on the freedom of the press “especially in a democratic set-up where political parties are duty-bound to eschew violence,” and Outlook editor-in-chief Vinod Mehta has called it a crude attempt to muzzle journalists. “This is a blatant attack on the freedom of the press. The Shiv Sena activists attacked our editorial office in Mumbai and made no attempt to disguise their identity,” he said when asked for his response to the outrage in Mumbai, adding that he spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh immediately after the attack. “He was quite disturbed after hearing of this attack. We have to consider and introspect that this kind of attack on the press is happening when India is celebrating its 60 years of independence. It is a crude attack on the freedom of the press.”
Wednesday 15 Aug 2007 | Paul | India
