Three journalists have been booked for reporting the news of a man who was forced to take his sick father to hospital on a pushcart in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district due to a lack of ambulances, The Quint reported on Saturday.
Journalists Kunjbihari Kourav, Anil Sharma and NK Bhatele wrote about the incident in Patrika, News18 and Lalluram.com, NDTV reported.
They were booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 505-2 (statements creating or promoting enmity between classes) and Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2008.
A first information report was registered based on a complaint filed by Dr Rajiv Kourav, medical officer at Daboh Community Health Centre.
The first information report claims that the news articles are “false and baseless”, NDTV reported.
An investigating team, formed by Bhind District Collector Sathish Kumar S, and comprising officers from the revenue and health departments claimed that the family did not call for an ambulance.
The team stated that the elderly man, identified as Gyan Prasad Vishwakarma, was first taken to a private hospital and not to a government hospital.
However, the man’s son Harikrishna and daughter Pushpa alleged that they had to push the cart for about 5 kilometres after not getting an ambulance despite calling for it.
Pushpa also countered the administration’s claims that her family is provided with benefits under government schemes, NDTV reported.
“We got just one installment of the PM Awas Yojana,” she said. “A team from the district administration took pictures of my brother’s house.”
Harikrishna alleged that some government officials made him sign on a blank paper.
The administration, however, has not responded to this allegation, NDTV reported.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!