Media crews faced the brunt of the violence that left some of them injured while cameras of many private electronic news channels were broken, he said.
Vashisht said, “Earlier in the day I got two phone calls that they (media personnel) were stopped from entering the operational areas. There were 86 reporters and I permitted each one of them.”
Clarifying that no police personnel would deliberately attack the media, he said as per reports, some journalists had been injured due to stone-pelting from inside the Ashram and some allegedly in police action.
“The moment this operation is over, we will get things investigated and looked into...There was no intentional or operational compulsion to target the media,” he said.
“We have nothing to hide, we have and will treat media as our ally. We want media by our side so that the world knows what the truth is, which is why we granted the permission on their request,” the DGP said.
He said he was sure that many among the mediapersons who covered today's Barwala operation would not have been part of such an event earlier, which was fraught with grave risks.
He said that even when media is discharging its duty in a free and fair manner, police had to ensure that their lives remain protected and some of them may have been “removed (from close to the Ashram site) in a rough manner...”
The DGP, however, maintained that there was no order to the police not to allow media to cover the event.
To persistent questioning on registering FIR against the cops who allegedly attacked the mediapersons, the DGP said for that they would have to give a written complaint detailing the attack.
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