Ram Rahim’s ‘Premis’ Saw Media as Enemy #1: A Reporter’s Diary
A day of close shaves: What it was like to encounter hostile ‘premis’ and face repeated threats of violence.
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OB vans torched. Journalists attacked. Reporters abused for doing their job.
Panchkula was not a friendly place to be a journalist this week. With most premis adopting an extremely hostile attitude towards mediapersons, reporting from the heart of the city was a challenging task. Here is a first-person account of my experience as the violence went from possibility to reality.
When Celebrations Turned Sour
At 2:30 pm on Friday, as the court proceedings in the Ram Rahim case began in Panchkula, I was positioned less than a kilometre away from the court premises at a site where thousands of premis were anxiously waiting for the verdict.
Ten minutes later, a few people began cheering. Within seconds, thousands of premis were hugging each other and dancing in joy. Rapturous celebrations were underway.
But the celebrations were shortlived. Premis dancing on the streets were stopped in their tracks by a few young followers who came out shouting, “It’s not final. Stop this now!”
One of these men saw me filming and immediately warned me to stop recording.
As the clock struck three, news of Ram Rahim’s conviction hit the airwaves. You would be able to hear a pin drop in the silence that had engulfed the park in Panchkula’s Sector 5.
Soon, as word spread that Guruji had been convicted of rape by the CBI court, premis converged into large groups to discuss the news. I stood across the road, shooting visuals of the followers reacting to a verdict they had waited so long for.
What was irksome was that despite thousands of premis gathered there, there were hardly any security presence at the site. Unwisely enough, the premis at Sector 5 had been granted the privilege of free movement, without security forces manning them.
Within moments, a group of aggressive premis began shouting, pointing in my direction, asking what in the world I thought I was doing. As I got into the car, my cameraperson Shiv looked over my shoulder to tell me that the group was charging towards us.
With mobile internet services suspended, we had to get to the hotel WiFi to be able to send what he had shot. Weighing our options, we left the scene and averted the confrontation.
Disrupted and Threatened
It wasn’t the first time that premis had aggressively objected to reporters doing their job. Just on Thursday, a bunch of them disrupted a Facebook live demanding that we stop it immediately.
Watch the last few minutes of the live here:
Even before we began the live, a few men had accosted my colleague Shiv.
“Who are you?” they thundered.
“Media se hai, Sir. Patrakaar hai.”
“ID card dikhao.”
We obliged. Seeing our credentials did not soften their attitude. If anything, it only angered them further.
We stuck to our guns and resumed speaking with the premis we had been interviewing.
Read the story here: Meet the Gurmeet Ram Rahim ‘Premis’ Who Have Panchkula on Edge
Hauled up at the Hospital
After the violence erupted on Friday afternoon, we headed to Panchkula’s Civil Hospital in Sector 6 where one ambulance after another was rushing in, ferrying victims of the violence. Premis, young and old, were being taken inside the hospital on stretchers and wheelchairs.
A riot control vehicle arrived and a young premi who emerged from it was rapped on the head by a member of the paramilitary forces. As I kept recording the visuals unfolding in front of me, suddenly, a hospital guard came rushing towards me and grabbed me by the back of my shirt.
Shouting at me, he asked me questions I had got tired of hearing.
“What business do you have recording here?”
“So what if you are from the media?”
“Stop recording, I’m warning you.”
Throughout the hospital premises, there were innumerable young men, all with hospital masks tied across their faces. Many of them were wielding sticks. Fellow reporters cautioned that several premis were there at the hospital so I should be careful about using my phone camera.
In the next few minutes, as we made our way towards the exit of the hospital, one such man with a stick in hand accosted us. As had become the norm by now, he threatened us and demanded we leave the place immediately.
Punished for Doing Their Job
When news broke of OB vans being attacked and journalists being beaten up by premis, none of us on the ground could say we were surprised. The hostility had been there for all to see. The lack of proper implementation of security measures was evident as well.
Tens of thousands of premis had been allowed to enter Panchkula in the days leading up to the verdict by a state administration that refused to implement Section 144 in earnest.
And while journalists will continue to debate whether the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana had the political will to implement these measures, another troubling question remains.
It is one thing for the premis to refuse to speak to the media or to rant against media houses for allegedly being biased against them. But to assault reporters and camerapersons for doing their job is unacceptable and worthy of our collective condemnation.
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