Attacks on scribes: Press council team visits Mumbai

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) A three-member team of the Press Council of India, which arrived here Monday on a two-day visit to assess problems faced by mediapersons and attacks on scribes and media houses, interacted with journalists and police, officials said.

The team members met delegations from the Press Club of Mumbai and the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh (MMPS), said MMPS vice president Shashikant Sandbhor.

"We put forth the problems faced by the media, attacks on journalists, demanded that offences against media should be made non-bailable, and all cases of attacks on media should be tried in fast track courts," Sandbhor told IANS.

The PCI delegation, comprising K. Amarnath, Raju Nag and Kalyan Barooah, also interacted with officials from the state publicity department and will meet more mediapersons here Tuesday.

The PCI team's visit assumes significance in view of several attacks on mediapersons and media houses, including the one on the offices of The Week magazine, where some non-journalist employees were assaulted.