India Today has taken senior anchor and consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai off the air for two weeks and deducted a month’s salary from the veteran journalist.
The channel has cited his on-air claim and tweets of Delhi Police shooting and killing a farmer during the January 26 tractor rally as a reason to take the action, The Wire reported.
On 26 Januar, farmers’ protesting against the three farm laws took out a tractor rally led by several farmers. lashes broke out between the police and protesters during the tractor march, and the Delhi Police claimed that more than 300 police personnel were injured. The police later booked at least 37 farmer leaders in an FIR in connection with the violence during the tractor parade, as two farmers’ unions reportedly withdrew from the agitation because of the events that unfolded on Republic Day.
Sardesai had, in a Tweet, said, “One person, 45-year-old Navneet killed allegedly in police firing at ITO. Farmers tell me: the ‘sacrifice’ will not go in vain.” The Wire had earlier reported on the issue and maintained that while Delhi Police had said that the farmer had died in an accident, other protesters claimed that the farmer was shot.
The police said that the farmer had died when his tractor overturned. Later, the Delhi Police released a video in which a tractor can be seen going out of control and overturning.Minutes after this video was released, Sardesai retracted his statement and said, “While the farm protestors claim that the deceased Navneet Singh was shot at by Delhi police while on a tractor, this video clearly shows that the tractor overturned while trying to break the police barricades. The farm protestors’ allegations don’t stand. Post mortem awaited.”
