By TCN Special Correspondent,
Lucknow: Utter chaos prevailed in the media centre as counsels HS Jain, Ranjana Agnihotri and PN Tripathi arrived with V-sign in the collectorate on Thursday. Mad scramble for judgment copy among scribes further worsened the situation with DM AK Sagar and DIG Rajeev Krishna personally requesting the journalists for maintaining order. In the melee, Additional Director (AD) Information, JA Salmani received a blow on his nose and started bleeding.
Earlier, hundreds of journalists, TV crew and others started assembling at the media centre set up at Collectorate for the assistance of media after the Ayodhya issue judgment was delivered by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday.
At around 2:30 pm DM and DIG personally arrived at the centre and informed that the briefing and judgment copy will be provided to the media at around 4:30 pm. As the time passed away, all eyes were focussed on the road leading to High Court. TV crew members tried to capture every moment of the history and some local leaders obliged them by giving them byte.
At aroung 4:47 pm counsels HS Jain, Ranjana Agnihotri and PN Mishra along with their supporters arrived flaunting V-sign at the centre amidst tight security. Barely had they taken their seat, it was clear that the judgment had favoured Ram Temple. Soon the counsels started reading out the judgment while the camera persons and electronic media gheroed them for that ‘exclusive’ shot. Hardly anything was audible in the centre and soon DM AK Sagar and DIG Rajeev Krishna took charge of the situation. Taking position on the stage, they requested the media persons to take their seat but it went unheard. Soon the officials announced that judgment copy had arrived and they will be distributed to the media persons provided they took their seat. However, the journalists refused to wait for their turn and started snatching the copies from the hands of the officials. During the melee, Additional Director, (Information) JA Salmani who was distributing the copies received blow on his nose and started bleeding. The unruly scene resulted in such a situation that no journalist could get the full set of judgment copies. Meanwhile, DM also announced that Chief Minister (CM) Mayawati will be addressing the press at 5:30 pm and the judgment copy will be delivered by email fail to move the crowd of scribes which had descended on Lucknow. Heavy CRPF and RAF security persons meanwhile cordoned off the way for the counsels who left the media centres.
Earlier before the verdict, the journalists enjoyed the hospitality of the media centre with cold drinks, lunch packets and coffee amidst discussing the outcome of the verdict. The journalist mela also acted as a get together for the media fraternity as many of them caught up with their old friends in Lucknow.
[TCN Photos]