Washington: 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 that the deletion of his recordings was a violation of the First Amendment.
"I stand with Rohit Sharma, the reporter with India Today group, and am unequivocal in my support for the 1st Amendment," Congressman Ro Khanna, a co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus on India and Indian Americans, said.
"He is a fair journalist. It's unethical and a betrayal of free speech for handlers to have snatched his phone, shoved him, and deleted his recordings," Khanna said. Congressman Shri Thanedar termed the attack "totally unacceptable."
"Security staff must be aware that reporters working in the US are protected by the First Amendment, regardless of the nationality of the interview subject, reporter 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 role in moderating the content or duration of the interview.
"They had no right or standing to take Sharma's phone from him or delete content," said Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club.
Ajay Bhutoria, a prominent Indian-American community leader, too in a statement condemned 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 unequivocally condemn the assault on Rohit Sharma. A free and independent media is 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 urged the US Department of Justice to investigate the matter.
He added, "Rahul Gandhi has been tarnishing India's image in the US with his divisive rhetoric and irresponsible statements. This incident is yet another example of the disregard for democratic principles and freedom of speech that he and his team have demonstrated during his visit. It is essential that this behaviour is called out and addressed swiftly."
According to US Press Freedom Tracker, Sharma was physically prevented from leaving an interview on September 7 by some attendees, who halted his questioning of the overseas head of one of India's main opposition parties, then stole his phone and deleted the 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. According to the news website, the men locked his phone while passing it around, so one of them held it up to his face to unlock it using 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 wrote.
Pitroda called Sharma to apologise for the incident a few days after and told the journalist that he believed in press freedom and that he would investigate and hold the responsible parties accountable, the Tracker said. "Pitroda did not respond to an email from the Tracker requesting additional information on the status of that investigation," it added.
