2 guards held for assaulting photojournalists

Journalists and press photographers protest in front of the Thane collector office against the alleged assault by Tata group's security guards on photojournalists. (Photo: Deepak Kurkunde)

A day after three photojournalists were allegedly assaulted by security personnel posted at the headquarters of Tata Group - Bombay House, the MRA Marg police has arrested two of the six security guards. Police sources reveal that the TOPS security firm, which provides security for the Bombay House, employed the two guards.

According to sources, the two arrested have been identified as Ganesh Shinde (28) and Mayur Gurav (28). The accused are employees of TOPS and residents of Mumbai.

The police has approached Tata Group to provide a list of security personnel employed at Bombay House.

DCP and spokesperson, Mumbai Police, Ashok Dudhe, said the two-arrested accused were on Saturday produced at a local court and remanded in judicial custody till November 11.

The officials also added that they were in the process of identifying every person present there. “For now only two have been identified but once we get all the information we will arrest the others too,” he said.

Meanwhile, members of the Mumbai Press Club, including photojournalists met with Tata Group representatives on Saturday evening. The Tata Group spokesperson Debasis Ray is also said to have apologised. They have asked the Tata Group to terminate the contract of TOPS security and confirm the same by Monday.

Neeraj Bijlani, CEO, TOPSGRUP India, said, “Our investigations have revealed that two of our security officers who were doing their duty at that time, got injured by the members of the press who were incessantly pushing and jostling outside the Bombay House and this incident triggered the reaction and escalated the whole matter. We as India’s leading services group believe, that our men who are trained to handle such issues, should have shown more restraint and handled the matter in a much more professional manner than they have, and thus, we have decided to suspend the three officers who were directly responsible for this avoidable situation. We would also like to sincerely apologise to the journalists who got injured in this incident and are willing to do whatever it takes to alleviate the matter and make amends for our action.”