In a display of misplaced vigilante zeal, a reporter from the channel Republic TV heckled a medical practitioner and accused him of producing a fake identity card to cross a police checkpoint at the Delhi-Noida Direct Flyway.
Delhi’s borders were shut under a statewide lockdown ordered by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Only essential service providers, which includes medical professionals, have been allowed to cross the border during the lockdown. The incident took place on the morning of March 24, before the national lockdown was effected.
In the video, the reporter is seen accusing Dr Anish Singhal of ESIC Hospital Noida of producing a fake identity card to cross the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. Singhal had been trying in vein to convince the police to let him pass as he is a doctor.
After Republic TV aired the clip, which was circulated on social media, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation’s Twitter account put out a statement requesting media cooperation in “testing times to ensure that the personnel working in emergency services are not interrupted or inconvenienced in the performance of their duties”.
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