Amaravati: Protesters who manhandled journalists granted bail

The district court on Monday released six farmers on bail who were arrested for manhandling journalists during Andhra's three capitals agitation in Amaravati on Friday.  Last week, some agitators had reportedly manhandled few journalists which led to the arrest of six persons on Sunday night and thereafter produced in the court. The court had sent them for 14 days remand and following which they were sent to Guntur district prison. The arrested farmers were released on bail on Monday evening were well received by the villagers of Pedaparimi and Tulluru area.

Amid a grand bike rally, farmers even chanted slogans of "Jai Amaravati, Jai Amaravati' to give a warm welcome to the farmers. The people of villages in Amaravati capital region have been agitating for over 13 days against the state's three capital proposal. Tensions have been rising in Andhra's capital region since Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy mooted the idea of three capitals for the purpose of 'decentralised development.

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The incident

On December 27, unidentified miscreants beat up journalists, including a woman, of different Telugu television news channels near the site where farmers had been agitating against any move to shift the state capital, police said. The miscreants also attacked police personnel, injuring a sub-inspector and a constable, the police said adding that a case has been registered and a search is on for the culprits.

The incident happened at Uddandarayunipalem village, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the development of Andhra Pradesh's capital city in October 2015. The miscreants attacked the woman journalist when she tried to interview BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana, the police said.

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They objected to her interviewing the BJP leader. Reporters of other television channels came to her rescue but they were also badly beaten up, the police said. Two reporters sustained injuries in the incident. Police arrived and took the injured reporters to the Secretariat dispensary for treatment.

Guntur Range Inspector General of Police Vineet Brijlal said in a statement that they have taken a serious view of the incident. Some miscreants, in the garb of protesting against the move to shift the state capital, attacked the TV news reporters and misbehaved with the woman journalist. They also attacked the police personnel when they tried to prevent the act, the IG said.

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(With Agency inputs)