Though Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla deserved the public criticism and political condemnation for showing ruthlessness in enforcing covid lockdown in the heart of the town but the reporters and anchors of U-tube channels who as usual also tend to become judges unto themselves were not condemned and criticised equally by the political parties and as well the general people for showing ruthlessness in reporting the incident. Crossing redlines in the conduct of professional duties is an unpardonable offence and both political parties and as well as the government have not to be selective in matters of public accountability. While the law enforcers have to desist from using abusive language and cane charging people in a situation of helplessness like the one prevalent in Kashmir and many other parts of the country, the scribes reporting clashes and conflicts from the trouble sites also have to restrict themselves to report the incidents with objectivity and accuracy instead of tending to be ultimate bosses unto themselves. While a duty magistrate in the eyes of law has to direct the use of force if the situation warrants so and oversee the intensity of force used by the uniformed people for the purposes of stopping violations on ground , similarly journalists have to report the incidents without crossing their professional mandates and leave it to the government to initiate actions for any kind of violations either against the law enforcers or the trouble shooters tending to disturb peace and order in any particular area. A journalist pulling up an officer and trying to parade him while reporting an incident at a street is as heinous a crime as is the beating of people by a magistrate in a street without using police and paramilitaries put under his command and control by the government for enforcing peace and order in his area.
While the beating of people including women by Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla was an insult to the very purpose of law enforcing for the purposes of containing the current spread of the covid-19 pandemic, the use of abusive words by some reporters of some U-tube channels against Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla while reporting the incident also has brought into disrepute the sacred job of reporting in the trying times of covid-19 pandemic. While morality demands that public functionaries, journalists and political leaders draw lessons from the Baramulla incident, the government seems to have taken a very lenient view of the challenges thrown up by Baramulla incident to the practice of law enforcing in Kashmir .
While government always claims that no one is above the law, but in Kashmir both the public functionaries obliged to protect the lives and property of the people and as well as the journalists supposed to be eye watchers of all the actions of the government tend to show their supremacy over each other just for the purposes of satisfying their personal egos. While the beating of people including women by Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla was an insult to the very purpose of law enforcing for the purposes of containing the current spread of the covid-19 pandemic, the use of abusive words by some reporters of some U-tube channels against Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla while reporting the incident also has brought into disrepute the sacred job of reporting in the trying times of covid-19 pandemic. While morality demands that public functionaries, journalists and political leaders draw lessons from the Baramulla incident, the government seems to have taken a very lenient view of the challenges thrown up by Baramulla incident to the practice of law enforcing in Kashmir .
