Date:20/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/20/stories/2008072059641100.htm

National

Journalists take out rallies in Gujarat

Manas Dasgupta

Protest against attack by Asaram Bapu’s followers on their colleagues

Thousands of residents join Ahmedabad procession
Violation of the right of freedom of expression: NBA

AHMEDABAD: Journalists in Ahmedabad and in various other cities and towns in Gujarat took out rallies on Saturday in protest against Friday’s attack on their colleagues by followers of Sant Asaram Bapu, whose ashram here is under the scanner following the mysterious deaths of two boys a fortnight ago.

At least half-a-dozen journalists and cameramen of the electronic media were beaten up when they were filming a public protest against the Bapu during “Guru Purnima” celebrations.

In Ahmedabad, more than 200 journalists and cameramen took out a rally from the Sabarmati police station to the ashram at Motera, shouting anti-Bapu and anti-police slogans. Thousands of residents also joined the rally.

Sensing trouble, the police posted at the ashram since Friday stropped the rally and refused it permission to proceed further. Following a minor scuffle — as some of the rallyists tried to break the police barricade — the journalists courted arrest. They were later released.

Ahmedabad bandh

On Friday, the “Ahmedabad bandh” call to protest against the mysterious death of the two minor boys turned violent. The police burst teargas shells to disperse violent mobs in different parts of the city. They reportedly fired five rounds in the air, but police sources refused to confirm this.

The bandh call, given by some traders associations, was timed to coincide with the “Guru Purnima” celebrations, when the Bapu was scheduled to arrive in the ashram for the first time since the death of the two boys.

About 10 vehicles trying to reach the Ashram were set on fire by an irate mob. Several hundred protesters blocked the roads leading to the Ashram, preventing devotees from reaching there.

Angered by this, hundreds of armed Ashramites swooped on the demonstrators. They also turned on the journalists from the electronic media who were filming the clash. At least two of the injured journalists had to be hospitalised.

The mutilated bodies of Deepesh (11) and Abhishek Vaghela (12), cousins and students of the Gurukul school run by the Ashram on its premises, were recovered on July 5 from the Sabarmati river behind the Ashram. The police initially tried to record the deaths as accidental, caused by drowning. But the father of one of the boys alleged that the children were offered as “sacrifice.”