Two US lawmakers on Tuesday condemned the alleged manhandling of an Indian journalist in Dallas last week by members of the Indian Overseas Congress and said the deletion of his recordings violated the First Amendment.
Congressman Ro Khanna, a co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus on India and Indian Americans, said: "I stand with Rohit Sharma, the reporter with India Today group and am unequivocal in my support for the 1st Amendment.".
"He's a fair journalist. It's unethical and a betrayal of free speech for the handlers to have snatched his phone, shoved him, and deleted his recordings," said Khanna. Congressman Shri Thanedar labeled the attack "completely unacceptable."
"Security staff need to know that journalists working in the US are protected under the First Amendment, no matter the nationality of the interview subject, journalist or security teams," he said. Thanedar said Sharma had an "on-the-record interview" with Congress leader Sam Pitroda and the security team had no say in what was shared and for how long.
"There was no right or reason to take Sharma's phone away from him or delete content," said Emily Wilkins, National Press Club president.
Ajay Bhutoria, prominent Indian-American community leader, too issued a statement condemning the assault on India Today journalist Rohit Sharma, allegedly by the members of Rahul Gandhi's team during the Leader of Opposition's visit to the United States.
"I strongly condemn the attack on Rohit Sharma. Free and an independent media are the backbone of any democracy, and the mistreatment of a journalist for asking a question is an attack on press freedom," he said. Bhutoria also called upon the US Department of Justice to probe into the issue.
He said, "Rahul Gandhi has been dragging India's name through the dustbin in the US with his rhetoric of division and irresponsible statements. The incident is another example of the contemptuous disregard for democratic principles and freedom of speech that he and his team have depicted through their visit. His behavior needs to be condemned and brought before the public eye without delay."
According to the US Press Freedom Tracker, Sharma was physically blocked from leaving an interview on September 7 by some attendees, who stopped his questioning of the overseas head of one of India's main opposition parties, then seized his phone and deleted an interview recording.
"I was made to sit on a chair there were two persons, one on my left side and one on the right and I couldn't get up. I tried getting up and they said, 'No, sit down, sit down. You can't move,' " Sharma told the Tracker. The news website states that the men locked up his phone while passing it around so that one of them can hold it up in front of his face to unlock it through Face ID.
"They deleted the recording from Sharma's Photos app and once again used his Face ID to access his Recently Deleted folder to permanently delete the recording. He said his phone was in aeroplane mode, and so the recording was not uploaded to his iCloud, " the Tracker added.
A few days later, Pitroda called Sharma to apologize for the incident and informed the journalist that he believed in freedom of the press and said he would investigate and act on this matter against the perpetrators, according to the Tracker. "Pitroda did not respond to an e-mail from the Tracker seeking further information on the status of that investigation," it added.
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