NEW DELHI: Journalist Richa Parashar has lodged a formal criminal complaint with the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), New Delhi District, seeking the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, along with several others. The complaint stems from an incident that allegedly occurred on October 12, while Parashar was on assignment covering a protest led by Rahul Gandhi near the Supreme Court premises.
Earlier, she alleged that she was "manhandled" and violently shoved by Rahul Gandhi and his security during a chaotic exit from the Supreme Court during the protest march on Monday, an incident that resulted in physical injuries and a traumatic medical emergency for the reporter, who is currently in her first trimester of pregnancy.
For Richa Parashar, what began as a routine professional assignment, capturing a political protest, transformed into a desperate struggle.
“I set my microphone, and all of a sudden, in just two seconds, everything happened. It is clearly visible in my video: Rahul Gandhi moved forward and held my hand—and he pulled it. He pulled it, and I felt his power. He pulled, and in that same second, his guards pushed me. It is clearly visible in the videos on the internet… Look at my phone; it's shattered. I was shouting, 'Sir, I am being pushed. Sir, we are leaving. Please don't push.' I was requesting him, 'Please don't push, sir.' And in two seconds, I was pushed. There were stairs at the Supreme Court; I fell on the stairs," she said.
The reporter described a harrowing scene where allegedly her pleas for safety were not only ignored but actively drowned out by the party cadres chants of "Rahul Gandhi Zindabad."“So, I fell, the phone fell, but since the microphone was on my collar, it was recorded. I got up and was shouting, 'My microphone has fallen,' and his people were telling me, 'Hey, where did you fall?' I said, 'It's recorded on my camera. You cannot suppress a journalist. I was standing in a large crowd and could not breathe. After that, I was saying there that Rahul Gandhi pushed me. Rahul Gandhi pushed me; he was just behind me. And his people were shouting 'Rahul Gandhi Zindabad, Rahul Gandhi Zindabad' to suppress my voice,” she claimed. (ANI)
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