The Mumbai Press Club has asked the Tata Group to discontinue services of the security agency, TOPS, which supplies guards to the company. The move comes in the backdrop of the alleged roughing up of photographers from various publications at the group’s headquarters, Bombay House.
Three photojournalists from the Times of India, Mid-Day and the Hindustan Times were allegedly beaten by the guards on Friday following a scuffle that began after ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry had arrived to chair the board meeting of The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which runs the group’s Taj brand of hotels, to approve the second quarter earnings.
The Mumbai Press Club, along with some other organisations, has decided to lead a protest march on Tuesday from the club to Bombay House if the Tata Group fails to remove the guards by noon on Monday, a release here said.
Two guards were earlier arrested in connection with the alleged attack on photojournalists and sent to judicial custody till November 11, Mumbai Police spokesperson Ashok Dudhe had said on Saturday.
The scuffle had started as soon as Mr Mistry, who is the chairman of IHCL, arrived at the Tata Group headquarters to chair the board meeting and the photographers waiting for him went beyond the cordoned off area to click his pictures. The press club had earlier condemned the attack and demanded that the guards involved in the scuffle be arrested.
A Tata Group spokesperson had apologised for the incident, saying, “Whatever happened should not have happened.”
Meanwhile, the TOPS group on Saturday had claimed that it has suspended three employees who were directly responsible for this avoidable situation.
