Times Now journalist's detention in Punjab direct attack on fourth estate: Hardeep Puri

The detention of a woman TV news reporter by Punjab Police has marked "a new low" for democratic values in the country, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday and asked everyone to condemn it "in the strongest terms". He said the police action against Times Now reporter Bhawana Kishore is "a direct attack on the fourth estate".

"Arrest of a Times Now journalist by the Punjab government marks a new low for democratic values in the country and is a direct attack on the fourth estate. This attack on free press & arbitrary action against a young media person should be condemned in the strongest terms," he said.

Voicing concern over the journalist's detention, the Editors Guild of India demanded her immediate release.


Kishore, who was on a reporting assignment in Punjab, was reportedly involved in an accident and detained by police.

She was taken away in a car by a policeman without the presence of women personnel, which is against well-established procedures, the Guild said in a statement.

The FIR registered against the reporter at a Ludhiana police station "appears excessive and with undue haste", it added.