Srinagar:&nbsp;A journalist working with a leading&nbsp;local English daily today alleged that he was beaten up by the&nbsp;personal security personnel of Jammu and Kashmir Minister&nbsp;Ghulam Nabi Lone after an argument.
Javed Malik alleged that a securityman first passed "lewd"&nbsp;remarks at his wife and then was thrashed by several of them&nbsp;when he wanted to complain to the minister.
"I and my wife were going to buy vegetables from the local&nbsp;market when the Agriculture Minister's motorcade started&nbsp;honking relentlessly at Bagh-e-Mehtab. I allowed the motorcade&nbsp;to pass as soon as possible," Malik told PTI.
The journalist with 'Greater Kashmir' newspaper alleged&nbsp;that some guards of Lone, who was sitting in one of the&nbsp;vehicles, picked up an argument with him, saying he had taken&nbsp;too much time in giving passage to the motorcade.
"As they were leaving, one of the guards passed lewd&nbsp;remarks at my wife. I chased the Minister's motorcade to bring&nbsp;it to his notice," Malik said.&nbsp;
He claimed that as he walked towards Lone's vehicle to&nbsp;bring the matter to his notice, the guards pounced on him and thrashed him.&nbsp;
"The guards were so rude. They kept on beating me despite&nbsp;my wife pleading before them," Malik said.
The Agriculture Minister could not be reached for his&nbsp;comments as he was not in his office and his mobile phone was&nbsp;switched off.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, opposition National Conference and CPI(M)&nbsp;condemned the incident and demanded action as per law against&nbsp;the erring cops and the Minister.
"This merits cognizance and action at the highest level.&nbsp;The Chief Minister should immediately take action against the&nbsp;erring Minister and the policemen involved should be suspended&nbsp;and arrested for an attempted murder and for harassing the&nbsp;senior journalist's wife.
"This is unacceptable and such behaviour cannot be&nbsp;tolerated. The Minister should face the law and his role in&nbsp;this case should be thoroughly probed. It is quite apparent&nbsp;that he instructed his guards to not only beat the journalist&nbsp;up but also illegally detain him and abduct him," NC spokesman&nbsp;Junaid Azim Mattu said in a statement.
Mattu said the Chief Minister cannot ignore this incident&nbsp;and has to act against the erring Minister.
CPI(M) MLA from Kulgam Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also&nbsp;called for stringent action against the erring cops.
"The attacks on journalists in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya&nbsp;Pradesh are being replicated in Jammu and Kashmir by the&nbsp;PDP-BJP coalition government .... it is a very disturbing&nbsp;trend and cannot be taken lightly," Tarigami said adding "the&nbsp;government must take strong action to set a deterrent so that&nbsp;such incidents are not repeated".

A senior journalist and his wife were allegedly assaulted on Monday by security personnel&nbsp;escorting the cavalcade of Jammu and Kashmir Agriculture Minister Ghulam Nabi Lone

Cops escorting J&K minister Ghulam Nabi Lone assault journalist, wife

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Home / News / India News / Article / Cops escorting J&K minister Ghulam Nabi Lone assault journalist, wife

Cops escorting J&K minister Ghulam Nabi Lone assault journalist, wife

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