Bhubaneswar: Odisha journalists staged a protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the Odisha Legislative Assembly premises on Wednesday after they were prohibited from taking their mobile phones into the press gallery of the Assembly.
According to sources, when journalists arrived at the Assembly to cover the question hour session, all media representatives were handed envelopes stating that they would not be allowed to enter the press gallery with their mobile phones. Instead, they were asked to keep their phones in the envelopes before entering the gallery.
Irked over the decision, journalists boycotted the assembly proceedings and staged a protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the assembly premises.
Notably, the incident comes a day after a video of MLAs engaging in a physical altercation inside the assembly went viral.
The protesting journalists claimed that the ban on mobile phones is an attempt to muzzle their voice and prevent them from reporting freely.
Meanwhile, a BJD team visited the protesting journalists and expressed solidarity with them.
BJD MLA Arun Sahu said, “The government should clarify what it wants to hide. Journalists have the right to report news without any restrictions.”
