Journalist clubs condemn molestation of women scribes by police

New Delhi, Oct 31: Various journalist organizations on Tuesday condemned the reported molestation of women scribes by the Chattisgarh Police.

In a statement, the Indian Women's Press Corps, the Press Club of India and others expressed their "deep outrage on reports of women journalists being groped and manhandled by members of the Chattisgarh Police on October 29".

At least three women journalists reported being "groped" by policemen when they were trying to talk to senior journalist Vinod Verma who was arrested by police from Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad and taken to Raipur, the statement said.

The women journalists complained that they were touched "inappropriately" not once but several times and one of them was also kicked, it added, saying that "only recently", the Union Home Ministry had sent an advisory to state governments regarding ensuring the safety of journalists during official media assignments.

"It is unfortunate and condemnable that such an advisory was ignored and journalists pushed around and women journalists made to suffer humiliation in the course of their duty," it said.