‘Cops move Wangchuk to hospital’: How newspapers played down police action at CJP protest
While most focused on the police’s claims that they had acted on the High Court’s order, the ‘Hindustan Times’ buried the story in the bottom half of the page.
A day after activist Sonam Wangchuk was forcibly removed from the site of his hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and taken to a hospital, leading newspapers on Sunday highlighted the police’s claims that they had acted on the High Court’s order.
While most newspapers covered the story on their front page, the Hindustan Times buried the story in the bottom half of the page and limited it to the Opposition parties’ comments on the developments.
Hindi daily Amar Ujala did not mention the story on its front page.
Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike since June 28. His fast is part of a protest led by the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations.
On Saturday morning, he was taken away from the protest site, with the police claiming that he had been shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital for “essential medical care” in compliance with a High Court order.
The Delhi High Court had on Thursday directed the Centre and the Delhi government to ensure that the health and medical condition of the activist is monitored daily. Any medical intervention required to improve his health should be undertaken by the government, the court had said.
On Sunday, while not giving the story a prominent space on the front page, the Hindustan Times mentioned that Wangchuk was “forcibly removed” from the protest site. The newspaper described the series of events of Saturday morning on the ninth page.
The Indian Express covered the police’s actions as its main story on the front page and said that Wangchuk had been “shifted” to a hospital.
It mentioned that the action came a day after Anurag Kumar took charge as the new commissioner of the Delhi Police and two days before a planned march by the protesters to the Parliament on Monday, when the Monsoon Session begins.
The Hindu also gave the story the lead space on the front page and pointed out that he was moved to hospital on the 21st day of his fast.
On the other hand, The Times of India focused on the lift-off of Vikram-1, the country’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Covering the story about Wangchuk on the second-most prominent space on the front page, the newspaper focused on the police’s claims. It mentioned that the police had claimed the protesters were lathi-charged.
Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran also covered the story as the second lead, but claimed that the police moved Wangchuk on Saturday as his health had deteriorated further.
It mentioned that Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke began a hunger strike after the police removed Wangchuk from Jantar Mantar.
Amar Ujala, another Hindi daily, only covered the story on the third page.
