“Take photos, what is the need for a video?” says top UP official on ‘roti And salt’ being served in school

Amid widespread criticism over a scribe being charged for a video showing roti and salt being served to school children in Uttar Pradesh, a top official has added to the show of insensitivity with his comments, reported NDTV.

On August 22, in a video shot at a school in Mirzapur, young school students were seen sitting on the floor and eating rotis and salt served as mid day deal under Modi government’s flagship scheme. Pawan Jaisawal, who works with Janasandesh Times has been charged with conspiracy for shooting the video. The representative head of the village has also been charged and arrested, as per the report published in NDTV.

The government states that the representative head should have arranged for vegetables instead of calling a reporter to the school. On being asked why the scribe has been accused of "conspiracy" where he had gone to report the news, Anurag Patel, top government official of Mirzapur, who had ordered the enquiry that led to registering the First Information Report (FIR) against the journalist, stated that he had intentionally made the video to defame the Yogi government, and that he should have taken photos instead because he writes for a newspaper.

According to the report in NDTV, "There is a different way to make news. If you hear the audio, someone (the village head's representative who has been charged and arrested) is calling him and saying come here and make a viral video and come and be part of a conspiracy," Patel said.

On being informed that not once did the scribe use the word "viral", the official replied, "Maybe he didn't say 'viral' but he is asking for a video to be made. You are a print media journalist, you could have taken photos. You could have printed it, but you did not do it. That is why we are accusing him of conspiracy." Patel also sought to clarify his recent comment that children were also served rice and salt in the past. "In khichdi, you put salt and rice, no? Also, daal (lentils) is added. But it wasn't for many days," he said.

Ironically, the same DM accusing the reporter of conspiracy had told reporters on camera that two separate enquiries conducted on the day the meal was served, ordered by him, had established the truth in the reporter's version.

On the day the video went viral, DM Anurag Patel had even suspended the teacher-in-charge of the school and the supervisor at the gram panchayat.

The DM says he ordered a third enquiry, which implicated the journalist, because he wanted to ‘triple check’ the facts. The three-page FIR against the journalist mentions that only rotis were cooked at the school on the day when the video was shot. It adds that the villager, a representative of the village chief, should have arranged for vegetables instead of calling a reporter to the school premises.